Faiz (centre) showing his Puskas 2016 trophy which he received at the FIFA Award ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland to both his parents Subri Kader (right) and Sadiah Ishak at Penang International Airport. Subri was the first football player from Asia to receive this prestigious award. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Faiz Subri’s shortcomings during the recent FIFA’s Puskas Award inadvertently revealed the other side of Malaysians.
Since scoring the magic goal during the match with Pahang in early 2016, there appeared to be a reason for Malaysians from all sections of the society to come together.
They clamoured through the social media for the nomination of Faiz for FIFA’s Puskas Award, they convinced the apathetic Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to nominate him.
It was the first win for Faiz’s in his road to victory. Yet after being nominated, Faiz went into oblivion while his team Penang ended with an uneventful season.
The excitement shown by Faiz’s followers too slowly dissipatated. JDT’s success at the Super League for the third time and the sterling win of Tan Cheng Hoe and his team in the Malaysia Cup overshadowed everything else.
However, not long after, Faiz’s name reappeared after voting was opened. Coincidentally it was also when stand up comedian Harith Iskander was also looking for support for the Funniest Person in the World Competition in Dec 2016.
Without delay and without being told we started working. With the collective effort from much of the 20.1 million Internet users in the country, we campaigned for Faiz in what ever way we could. Those of us voted for him enticed others to follow our footstep.
This campaign could be seen all over the place. Through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even the WhatsApp groups of suraus and mosques joined the campaign!
There was merriment as we worked for Faiz’s success. It was a beautiful moment that we have witnessed, the unity of the different races in the country in achieving a common goal.
The hard work appears to have paid off. Faiz was listed as among the three players with the highest number of votes. This brought a great euphoria. Since then the campaign went on overdrive, with the mantra now or never being the driving force.
The messages capitalised on the emotions as Faiz was in the third position, that this may be the first and last time a Malaysian player gets the opportunity to win the FIFA award. The effort worked.
There was no stopping and the campaign went on until the final day, Jan 9. On the final hours of the voting, numerous sports and football pages campaigned for votes through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yes, people from other countries too have voted for Faiz but it is us who found it pertinent to put the country’s name at the international stage at this opportune moment.
Unfortunately, some also showed their other side that we cannot be proud off. Some picked on Faiz’s dressing. Which Baju Melayu was right for him?
There was literally a subtle Facebook war. Those who went for the Baju Melayu had their own reasons and those who preferred something else too had their own reasons. Faiz picked a more formal Western suite and ended as the target of netizen’s insinuations.
While some mocked him, others defended him too. However, that’s not all.
When he was announced the winner, the whole nation was in euphoria. Faiz walked proudly to the stage to receive the award from football legend, Ronaldo. So many of us stayed up late that night to watch the life telecast and it was worth watching.
Yet came another test for Faiz, right at the moment of glory. In less than 30 seconds after the announcement, Faiz who wanted to speak unfortunately could not switch on his handphone to read out his speech text in English. He had to do without the text and his poor command in the language became the fodder for more insinuation.
“Why save the speech text in the handphone?”
“Why not just speak in Malay?”
“It’s shameful he stuttered when he spoke in English”
“This is not the reflection of real Malaysians English standard”
Borrowing the words of nation’s sports critic, Daniyal Kadir, Faiz’s achievement is based on his own ability. As he is a Malaysian, fellow Malaysians felt they to have a part in Faiz’s success.
Yes, we played our part by supporting and voting for him. However, that does not give us the right to dictate what Faiz should do or should have done.
In a nutshell, Faiz’s story is a reflection on ourselves. We often pride ourselves of being polite, of high esteem, smart and etc.
Now think again, are we that good or is it just our alter ego?
We have worked hard to succeed but at the moment of glory we get into destructive mode. 30 seconds. It is the time that took to put a blot in the brilliant efforts of Malaysians throughout 2016.
(This commentary is the personal opinion of the writer and does not reflect in anyway Bernama’s stand on what has been stated by the writer). — Bernama