LAST Monday, I received this email from a friend in Singapore. He had a request for me.“I hope you can write an article about Lee Chong Wei and his badminton success. And you know why? His coach is Misbun Sidek (Malay) and he is Chinese. And you just have to see them hug each other to realise this is what Malaysia should be…the REAL racial harmony. And Chong Wei cannot succeed without Misbun and Misbun’s success is a Chinaman. We should see more of this.”
I have to say I was quite touched by my friend’s comments. This is an example of racial harmony among Malaysians at its best. While that is quite evident in sports, it is so different in the political arena and elsewhere.
We can all agree, I’m sure, that left to our own devices, all the races do get on. That is until politicians obstruct us and scupper all the goodwill and harmony created, by making various issues political. This is sad but true.
But I’m not going to bring up the negative vibes about incidents of racial discord in the country in this column. We have had enough of such incidents in recent years. Let’s look at something positive for a change.
However, as we are discussing badminton, let me get something off my chest. Several years ago, I was truly disturbed by the remarks of a Malay Member of Parliament who asked why there were no Malay badminton players representing the country in international tournaments.
This was during the post-Razif Sidek era. Then, the Malaysian badminton team was dominated by mainly Chinese players like Ong Ewe Hock, Yong Hock Kin, Wong Choon Hann and several others.
I thought it would be rather absurd for the MP to even talk about such a matter in private, let alone bring it up in Parliament. In sports, we all support the best of our sportsmen and sportswomen who represent the nation, irrespective of their racial background.
We all cheered for Punch Gunalan and James Selvaraj when they played for the nation. So did we for Misbun Sidek and his brothers, Razif and Jalani. Malaysians were so proud of Hafiz Hashim when he won the All England Singles Men’s title in 2003. Now, we all rejoiced in Lee Chong Wei’s victory.
This is how things should be in sports. If there is a unifying event for Malaysians, sports is one. The sporting arena is colour blind. Happily for that ugly episode brought up by the MP, the then Sports Minister chided the lawmaker by stating the obvious and requesting him not to bring up such an issue in the august house again. Since then, we have not heard of such silly remarks again.
Back to positive sporting vibes and Lee Chong Wei, my friend from Singapore was spot-on with his thought on real racial harmony. Immediately after his victory at the All England final, the first person Lee thanked was his coach, Misbun. Even his parents came second.
Lee paid tribute to the eldest of the famous Sidek brothers as the single individual who has helped him the most in raising his game which eventually made him the world’s Number One.
In turn, Misbun described Lee as one of his most disciplined charges, saying that Lee was willing to slog all the way in training before every tournament in order to reach his peak.
“Chong Wei would give 100 per cent and if he lost a match, it would not be because he didn’t give his best but for other reasons such as injuries or fatigue. It takes a strong person to keep winning one tournament after another,” he said.
With Lee seemingly placing his hopes on Misbun to steer him in the right direction in future tournaments, the job of the national singles coach has become tougher, particularly so after Lee has nailed the prestigious All-England title.
Misbun will now have to find new ways to spice up Lee’s game for the challenges in other major tournaments this year.
“I am the happiest coach with Chong Wei’s achievement in Birmingham. But I also realise that others have already studied his game well,” he said.
Misbun said it would be challenging for Lee to maintain his game at the highest level after having stayed unbeaten for four months.
The coach wants his most prized charge to come good in the world championships in Paris in August and the Guangzhou Asian Games in November.
Lee is also heavily relied on in playing the lead role in the Thomas Cup Finals, which will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from May 9-16.
In the meantime, Lee Chong Wei should be allowed to savour his All England victory and bask in its glory. He and Misbun deserved the accolades showered by all of us.
Since his return from England, Lee has been feted by the Prime Minister and his wife, the Sports Minister and even had a special luncheon in Parliament to enable MPs to meet and congratulate him.
PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was so proud of Chong Wei’s achievement that he gave the Badminton Association of Malaysia RM2 million to pay the arrears of its coaches and players.
We all join hands in congratulating Chong Wei for clinching his first All-England badminton title in Birmingham. It was indeed a hard-fought victory against Japan’s Kenichi Tago but Chong Wei, the third Malaysian in 44 years to win the All-England men’s singles title, rose to the challenge.
Chong Wei has certainly done Malaysia proud by capturing all three Super Series titles this year including the Korea and Malaysia Opens.
We look forward to more Chong Wei victories but meantime, I think we should sincerely thank Lee and Misbun for showing all of Malaysia and the world what real racial harmony is all about — at least, for those who care and feel it. To them, Lee and Misbun are the perfect Malaysian pair.
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