Poor MHC officials can't even pay attention..

By Jugjet Singh
jugjet@hotmail.com

COMMENT


THE Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) is so poor, that their officials can't even afford to pay attention.  
  MHC will be holding their Annual General Meeting Friday in Kuala Lumpur, but bungling and arrogant officials have made a mockery out of a simple procedure because they never paid attention.
  It all started after a messed-up EOGM was held in Johor Baru last October, where even the minutes were not written, while proposals were bulldozed by a handful of selfish officials who were chasing for higher posts in the MHC.
  It was never an EOGM, but a party for hungry Hyenas who tore the constitution to tatters and brought world-wide shame to former Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) officials who were champions of their own league when it came to organising tournaments and meetings of the  highest levels.  
  The old constitution (amended 12 Dec 2011) specifically followed the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) demand on a merger between the men and women's hockey Federations around the world and equal number of posts be allotted for both genders.
  Then, it was agreed that the president and deputy president's posts must be held rotationally between man and woman.
  However, there was an unwritten agreement that the president will be a man while the deputy a woman, and there was no problem at all -- until somebody wanted a bigger share of the cake.
  In the JB EOGM, the women had even proposed to have two deputy presidents' as a compromise, but the proposal was bulldozed as somebody was confident that he can take over the post, by amending the constitution blind-folded.
  From 12 veeps, one from each gender as senior, and five each for men and women -- the amendment proposed only seven veeps. Two for women and five for men. And the deputy president's post was opened for election and no longer reserved for the women.
  So blind were those who approved the EOGM amendments, that they forgot that there is somebody watching them from above, and has the final say on how to govern the confederations around the world.
  The FIH were in a fiery mood as they rejected the EOGM amendments and proposed changes to bring back matters to status quo. 
  FIH, in a letter dated Nov 17, and signed by CEO Kelly Fairweather, has stated that it did not agree to eight issues in the draft submitted by the MHC on amendments made to the MHC constitution during its EOGM in JB. 
   Among them  were: Fairweather wrote: “In particular I have to point out that the new proposed amended statutes do not -
  1) Have provisions for the suspension of members.
  2) Have provisions for indemnity of officials.
  3) Have an age limit for elections.
  4) Have a limit on the number of times a person may be elected to a particular office.
  5) Have provisions for gender equality.
  
  AGAIN, the MHC were adamant that they were right and bulldozed the amendments through the then Sports Commissioner Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail, who  initially approved the amendments with the exception of Article 23 which governs the composition of the office bearers.
  Shapawi left for greener pastures as director of the Natonal Sports Council and in came former athlete Datuk Zaiton Othman.
  As swift as she was off the blocks during her running days, she issued a stern letter to the MHC -- telling them to toe the FIH line, or face the music in a short and simple letter.
  But still, MHC officials including the administrative side, refused to take off their blind-folds as their understanding of the law was so poor, that even if a sledge hammer was used, it will still not go in their thick minds.
  In the end, the Sports Commissioner issued another letter -- this time stating that the old constitution MUST be used if elections are to be held Friday.
  But the talk among thick officials along the corridors until yesterday is that they would rather commit hara-kiri of the MHC, than pay attention.
  (Defying FIH has its consequences as the Indian Hockey Federation found out when they lost their affiliation with the world body and replaced by Hockey India).