RECENTLY, I saw a headline in a newspaper which read, “State goes ‘headhunting’ for top brains”. It went on to say that Sarawak is going to live up to its historical reputation as the ‘Land of Headhunters’ except, now, with a difference.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu quipped, “Yes, we still go for headhunting but not to chop off people’s heads like in the early days. What we are doing now is we hunt for people who have the brains and who can help us transform our state by bringing in modern and sophisticated technologies.”
Coincidentally, just a few days before, a willing ‘victim’ came forward. It appears that Anna Tyulpa, 15, a tennis player from Russia wants to settle down in Sarawak. She intends to become a Malaysian citizen and play for the country at international tennis competitions.
Young Anna is ranked 111 by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the governing body for the world juniors. The fact that none of our players, whether boys or girls, get within a mile of that status explains why some of our sports officials are ‘over the moon’ with that prospect. Apart from the possibility that the Russian girl can provide us a shortcut to glory, it is also hoped that the limelight cast on her (if ever she gets to win a major regional trophy) may encourage our youths to take up the sport seriously.
“This is the first time a foreigner has such intention and I believe if we can ‘import’ such a player, it will definitely spur tennis development in Sarawak. At the same time, we will also have a good sparring partner for our state players,” said Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president Dato Patrick Liew.
However, the importing of talents, including from outside the sporting field, has always been a touchy issue, drawing as much support as opposition. Our Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek too sounded a cautionary note, saying that while he is not against such a move, it should not be at the expense of local talents. The minister went on to say that the country must attempt to mould Malaysians into world champions instead of taking the easy way out by luring foreigners.
Indeed, Malaysia has proven that she is capable of producing world champions. Apart from badminton, a sport of which we have been among the top dogs for at least 50 years, the most outstanding example is squash.
In the person of Nicol David, we have a world champion who has been the queen of the hill for over 50 months. And, she is not just an isolated case. At the just-ended Asian Games, our squash boys and girls delivered gold by the bucketful. Nicol and all our other Asian champions are home-grown.
We from Sarawak can be especially proud. We have Azlan Iskandar, who is ranked among the top 10 in the world, and has a reasonable chance of being number one in the future. We have seen Azlan growing up as a little boy in Kuching, and indeed, many of us have played him in the past. I myself have the honour of beating this top notch player … that was when he was eight years old.
The practice of importing foreign talents and having them don national colours is not new. Many countries have been doing it for years. However, it has gotten more noticeable in recent years. Singapore is rather blatant in this. It has never been a luminary in the sporting world. Thus, it was with great surprise that I read that the Singapore women’s table tennis team captured the silver medal in the Asian Games, disposing of traditionally powerful nations like Japan and Korea. How can that be, a sporting minnow like Singapore winning top accolades in a sport which Asians have made their own for centuries? Well, surprise no more – the whole team consists of ex-players from China, the table tennis juggernaut. In Europe too, we have the curious sight of some sports finals featuring two obviously Asian faces vying for the championship.
In the last few years, we witnessed a number of fleet-footed middle distance athletes with very un-Arab looks running for some Arab countries. They not only don new national colours but also new names as required by their new religion.
Not all this switching of nationalities have happy endings. The most obvious is the case of Zola Budd in the 70s. She was a spritely South African teenager who could outrun a gazelle, and white to boot. Britain, which has been an underachiever in the Olympics for years, made the move (a desperate one according to many) to grant her citizenship with such double quick time that it raised not just myriad of eye brows but a number of heckles as well.
At that time (I presume, now as well) there was a long line of applicants for British citizenship. The British are such sticklers for queues. Zola was cutting queue in the full glare of publicity. There was a joke going round at that time which went like this:
“Can you see the flag at the end of the field,” said the British Immigration officer to the applicant, pointing to a flag 100 metres away.
“Yes sir.”
“Well, if you can reach it in 10 seconds, welcome to your new country.”
Well, I just hope our immigration authority is not reduced to building running tracks, playing courts, swimming pools, etc in its backyard.
Anyway, back to the story of Zola Budd, and it was a sad one. After all the publicity and expectations, she found the pressure too great. She buckled under the strain, renounced her British citizenship and hightailed it back to South Africa.
We have equally sad stories here in Malaysia. Many years ago, there was a brilliant young student. So impressive was his academic performance that he was offered a scholarship in an English school and then went on to win a place in a prestigious medical school in London. His talent did not go unnoticed and he was recruited to work in a famous hospital. He served for many years as a surgeon and won great respect from his fraternity.
One day he ran into one of our state’s ministers, who appealed to his patriotic sentiment and managed to persuade him to abandon his successful career in Britain and come to serve in Sarawak. Unfortunately, for him, and ultimately for Sarawak, it turned out to be an unhappy experience.
Over a year after he returned starry-eyed to Sarawak and served as a well-needed surgeon, he was told that the department could not confirm his appointment because he had not passed his Bahasa Malaysia examination. You see, he grew up in the days when we were taught purely in English, in other words, in the early days of Malaysia. His position then was as the only surgeon serving the then huge division covering the whole length of the Rajang River, so he did not have time to brush up on his BM.
On top of that, his wife, who is a non-Malaysian and an equally brilliant doctor, was denied a work permit. For two years, she had to make the annual application to extend her permit to stay with her husband and to sit at home unable to do any work. One fine day, Singapore offered both of them jobs and permanent residence. They jumped at the opportunity. Given the support and facilities from the island republic, he (and his wife) went on to develop into a top specialist in his field, not just in Singapore but the whole of Asia.
It is said that in the days when we actually practised headhunting, meaning physically taking the heads of our adversaries, we treated the heads with great respect, hanging them in a place of honour in the house. On important occasions we would fete and ‘feed’ these honoured guests, so that they will bring peace and harmony to the community.
So, when the minister announced that Sarawak is going ‘headhunting’ for talents, perhaps we should consider carefully if we have the capability to provide these gifted people the support, in terms of finance and facilities, to keep them here. Let’s hope that if any preferential treatment is accorded (whether real or imagined), it will not form the basis for discord in our community.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected].