'It looks like PM Najib seems eager to exploit any opportunity to earn brownie points from the rakyat.'

M'sia wins AFF Suzuki Cup, PM declares Friday holiday

Confused: How come no public holiday when Nicol David won the world title or when Lee Chong Wei won the All-England? These competitions are world standard participated by the best in the world. What is Suzuki Cup? A regional tournament with only 10 participating countries where none of them are anywhere near top 50 in the Fifa rankings.

Not that I want to take away anything from our national team for winning the tournament. In fact, I was one of the many in Bukit Jalil cheering them on. I believe we should take this win and aim for something higher before declaring a public holiday or reward the players handsomely, i.e. land, datukship, etc.

DOC: Congratulations to the whole Malaysian football team for a job well done. On another note (not being a party pooper and just to throw in a political twist to this great achievement in Malaysian football), is it ironic that Malaysians are given a holiday tomorrow as the team actually lost a football match.

It looks like PM Najib Razak seems eager to exploit any opportunity to earn brownie points from the rakyat.

Wira: What is there to cheer so excessively? This AFF-Suzuki Cup is just a regional competition among Asean countries. If we had won the Thomas Cup, then it is different because that is a world class badminton competition.

Our football prowess today couldn't even qualify us as one of the last eight in the Asian Games and the way the PM is behaving, people elsewhere may think we just won the World Cup.

TKC: I was watching the football match with several friends in a pub last night and all of us were elated that our Malaysian football team finally won something after so many years. But by making Friday a public holiday, the same pub would lose some business because it mainly caters to the office crowd.

Gordon Gecko: If Australia were to declare a public holiday for all their sporting achievements, the whole country will be having numerous holiday breaks throughout the year. But the difference with Malaysia is that the Australian politicians are a class act, unlike our BN politicians who are quick to exploit any cause for their own political mileage.

Armour Man: One would have thought Malaysia won the World Cup. Can PM Najib Razak really declare public holidays at his whim and fancy? Under what law? What about the inconvenience and loses that businesses suffer as a result of his ad-hoc proclamation? Is he going to cover them? I would like to make a claim.

Alan Goh: Go down to the ground and ask the local business people what do they think of the public holiday on Friday for winning the Suzuki Cup. Najib, while there is reason to be joyful and to celebrate, don't you think that you have overdone it?

CP4: What's the fuss in declaring New Year's Eve a public holiday? Come on, the whole of December is basically a quiet month. Most businesses have slowed down even before the Christmas holidays. Please do not talk about productivity, and if you guys cannot grace a victory, then you must have no soul.

Amaso: For the impromptu Friday being a public holiday, Malaysians especially millions of factory workers are enjoying themselves at the expense of employers both local and foreign who have to pay them twice the salary to work on that day in order to meet delivery deadlines.

The employers are bleeding so they look outside of Malaysia to move their business there. This is defeating the tremendous efforts made to attract foreign investments.

Anonymous: Malaysians were all happy yesterday, our footballers finally made it after some 14 years. We should now hold on to our success formula so that we can maintain consistency in winning at all levels and avoid waiting another 14 years.

Football is a game of 11 players (plus reserves) and every single player must share the glory. Above all, we should learn from coach K Rajagopal's success formula. He groomed the players into campions.

This win should not be hijacked or abused for any personal or individual reasons as sports is pure. Well done, Rajagopal and our Malaysian tigers.

Ghkok: Congratulations to the Malaysian football team. It's a great day for our football. I was at a ‘mamak' stall watching the game on TV during the first leg in Bukit Jalil, and the crowd was cheering like crazy. Our team played with full commitment and the standard of football was very high.

Now, coming to Najib's declaration of public holiday - this is another clear sign of the impending general elections.

Multi Racial: I do not wish to take away the credit from the Malaysian football team which I think they deserved to be praise and congratulate.

However, for the PM to declare a public holiday just because our national team won a Suzuki Cup which is only Asean level is just pathetic. As we all know, foreign investment has been declining. Malaysian businesses are also investing outside Malaysia. One of the measure taken by the government is to stop the decline.

The problem with us is that our competitiveness has dropped and our politicians are more interested to play politics than working together to develop the country. This made things worse.

I know one day is not going to kill Malaysia, but what would others see us when our government can simply declare national holiday over a situation like that. It is not good.

William D Arulsingam: Congrats to the Malaysian team, coach and all the players. But giving a day off is a political move to win the rakyat's heart. Najib is wrong, this is not the greatest night in Malaysian football.

He either has bad memory or do not follow football closely. Let me remind him that Malaysia in 1980 qualified for the Moscow Olympics.

Anonymous: Win AFF Cup, get one day public holiday. Win World Cup, get one month holiday?

Pay public holiday rates tomorrow, employers told

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