“D’oh!”

- Homer Simpson

Friends of mine and Malaysiakini subscribers who communicate with me through email asked my opinion on the ‘If only Faiz could speak!’ and other similar articles. I consider Malaysiakini contributor Terence Netto a friend and while I was surprised at Netto's piece because it was such a polarising issue, I was even more surprised because it garnered an immediate response from the Malaysiakini team that was the equivalent to a spank on the behind.

I must be really out of it because I really did not realise that this was an issue. Before I begin, I hope everyone got what I did with the title of this piece... never mind.

To be honest, I did not expect the kind of commentary on the issue that I read in all the links, my friends, and especially those that regular Malaysiakini subscribers sent me. While online commentary has been (naturally) vicious, what I did not expect is in some places, Malaysiakini was blamed for what Netto wrote as if the piece was Malaysiakini's editorial stance on the matter.

Let me be very clear. Everything I write for Malaysiakini are my own opinions and not endorsed by Malaysiakini. With this in mind, here is my view on the issue.

Mohd Faiz Subri won an international football award and if one is into football - apparently many are in Malaysia - it should be something that brings us together. So what if he did not speak "good" English? This after all was not an elocution contest but rather an event where football enthusiasts celebrate the sport.

Furthermore, this was an opportunity for fans of the sport to celebrate what Faiz said about training, hard work, commitment, etc, which should be the focus of public commentary and not his delivery, which in a way was kind of disarming.

Football fans the world over - some of whom do not speak English - were not watching the show expecting a "I have a dream speech". What they were cheering - especially young fans - was the dream of achieving something great in a sport, which either as participant or audience, they have dedicated time, energy and effort to.

Faiz says he chose to speak in English because there was no interpreter provided by the organisers. Obviously, his facility with the language is lacking but considering the occasion, the audience and the fact his nerves must have been frayed, I give him points for making an attempt. I have seen non-Malay sports personalities speaking in public and they do not speak in the Queen's English, yet they are not judged by the same standards this footballer is.

And because of the political situation in the country, every opportunity is used to score points and it just comes off as mean spirited but then again this has always been the defining characteristic of online commentary.

Wasn’t there a film recently about Malaysian football which was embraced because of its so-called multi-racial/multi-cultural values? One of the main themes of the film was that Malaysians supposedly had this sense of fraternity in the good old days that somehow got lost in translation in contemporary times. Was this sense of fraternity based on the fact that we all spoke in the Queen’s English or was it based on the reality that we got along despite the fact that we all spoke different languages and came from different cultures?

We always say that the “gomen” divides us but the reality is that these days, every opportunity is grasped to describe what it wrong with this country instead of using the opportunity to celebrate in the “others” success. I remember when our national badminton champion was mocked because of his political affiliation and his professional success denigrated because it only “helped” the establishment.

In every sporting event, the race of the participants is scrutinised and political axes brought to bear, if there is any hint that the establishment somehow “benefits” from the win. National policies are dredged up and the discussion revolves around how the system is biased and how we cannot move forward as one people.

Malaysiakini’s Hazlan Zakaria wrote, “It is true that Faiz struggled with his acceptance speech, but it should not be allowed to detract and steal the thunder from his achievement”, which bothered me, because how Faiz delivered his speech should not even warrant serious public commentary but the fact that it did, is indicative of how far this country has gone downhill in terms of how we celebrate “Malaysian” success...