EVERYBODY loves a winner. Pandelela Rinong is one. She deserves all the attention and accolades she’s getting now. Why not? She’s the flavour of the month. She deserves all the rewards too for her historic achievement at the London Olympics.
Aha, everyone wants a piece of her too. Just look at the crowds who welcomed her home at the Kuching International Airport last Tuesday. It must have been quite a while since Kuching saw so many people welcoming home a sports personality. Ha, just count the scores of VIPs present too. I cannot recall the last time this happened at Kuching Airport.
By the time our dive darling reached Kuching, she must have been quite used to the adoring crowds and public attention. A few days earlier, she was given a heroine’s welcome at KLIA upon her return from London. Later, she had the attention of the Prime Minister, who honoured her with an RM300,000 reward on behalf of the government.
In Kuching, Pandelela was escorted from the airport by a convoy of bikers for the journey to the Astana where she was conferred the Johan Bintang Kenyalang award by the Head of State. This was followed by lunch with the Chief Minister. Later, the state government announced a cash reward of RM60,000 and a scholarship for her tertiary education. The Dayak Cultural Foundation also presented her with RM30,000.
I think we can agree with the Chief Minister’s announcement that her family, who hail from Kampung Jugan in Bau near Kuching, would be taken care of.
We are all very proud and happy for Pandelela and for her family too, her parents in particular. The family’s sacrifices are now paying off.
I was very moved with the story about her father, Pamg Joheng. The 46-year-old contract labourer used to send Pandelela for training at the Stampark pool in Kuching on his rusty motorbike.
Pamg, who only earned RM45 a day, was determined to see his children get a head start in life and he prepared them well with his own example of sacrifice and selflessness. He did not have much to offer his brood materially but he gave his all in other ways to satisfy the needs of his family. His wife, Hartini Lamim, must surely be the rock by his side.
I wish to tell Pamg this: Other parents may have the means to make doctors, engineers, lawyers and successful business executives out of their children but few can produce an Olympian. You can hold your head high today because you stand tall among the elite.
On my next visit to Bau, I must look up Pamg and toast him and his family for bringing honour and glory to Sarawak. As a father myself, I can appreciate and understand what Pamg had to go through for his kids and how happy and proud he must be today. Well done, man!
I am also very happy that the state government did not go overboard with honouring and rewarding Pandelela. This much I can say for Sarawak – we are very sober when it comes to awards and rewards for high achievers in any discipline.
The cash reward was justified. We did not make Pandelela an instant millionaire. We gave her enough to enable her to concentrate fully on her career and for her tertiary education later. Whatever assistance extended to her family later is an added bonus. This is the best incentive, materially, as far as I’m concerned. Being overgenerous can also be harmful. Surely, we must not forget what happened to certain members of the victorious Thomas Cup squad of 1992. The federal government handed out cash while the state government gave them land and turned them into instant millionaires. Look what happened later. One became a bankrupt and he admitted publicly later that he mismanaged his wealth.
I’m also glad that the Sarawak government honoured Pandelela with the more appropriate Johan Bintang Kenyalang state award rather than what I would describe as the overindulgent and inappropriate Datukship. It is unthinkable to make a teenager a Datuk.
When the newly-installed Penang government awarded the Datukship to Lee Chong Wei and Nicol David in 2008, I criticised it because I don’t think it’s appropriate to turn schoolboys and girls into Datuks. Why burden them unnecessarily with an honorific which they do not need in their sporting career? Reward them by all means because they deserve it. But give them something more suitable and meaningful.
I’m actually quite disturbed at times to see how we overindulge or over-celebrate certain achievements by our people. An example is the recent declaration of a national public holiday because Malaysia won the Suzuki Cup.
What? Suzuki Cup! Is that equivalent to a SEA Games gold medal in football? And so we celebrate with another day for Malaysians to laze around and do nothing. I believe our own Merdeka Cup in the good old days was more prestigious than the Suzuki Cup.
Why? Did we not beat South Korea and Japan, two Asian soccer powerhouses, at regular intervals during the Merdeka tournaments? Whose scalps did we take at the Suzuki Cup – minnows Philippines and our struggling neighbours, Indonesia. Big deal eh!
Aha, I couldn’t help but wonder whether it would be another national public holiday had Lee Chong Wei brought home Malaysia’s first Olympic gold medal from London. If that were to happen, then I have to say I’m actually glad that Chong Wei did not emerge the champion.
Call me unpatriotic if you wish but an overindulgence in celebrations and too many public holidays will only make Malaysians more lazy. I think we already have too many holidays in this country.
All’s said and done, I think Sarawak did well to reward Pandelela and her family in an appropriate manner.
Pandelela’s career and education are taken care of. She now has a pension for life for winning an Olympic medal. Her future is secure. Her family will also be taken care of.
Perhaps Pamg and his family could do with a better roof over their heads. They deserve a little more comfort now. A land reward would be in order for the hard-working and disciplined Bidayuh family. Why not?
Maybe, Pamg could also be given a leg up in the construction industry. He should now ‘graduate’ from being a labourer to a sub-con or even a contractor. Give him a head start with some good jobs. Alternatively, give him a job — a pensionable one preferably.
I believe nobody will object if a simple, humble, God-fearing family that has sacrificed so much to bring honour and glory for the state, country and people, receive a little of the good things in life from the state.
An objection would be unthinkable. We, Sarawakians, should know who deserve to be rewarded and in the appropriate manner. Haven’t I been bragging about it all along?
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