George: Vote based on track record, not empty promises

FIFTEEN affiliates with two votes each will decide the future of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) Wednesday.
  And the interesting part is that 14 of the votes are in the hands on women delegates, as each state and affiliate must bring a man and woman to compliment with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) guidelines.
  Perlis only registered one delegate.
  The only affiliate who will not be a part of the process is Sarawak who have yet to register themselves with the Sports Commissioner's office. Delegates had to register their names 48 hours before election with the MHC, and Sarawak have failed to do so as they are only registered with the Registrar of Society.
  Sarawak is just a tiny part of the bigger mess which president-elect Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal will inherit after today's voting is done and the winners announced.
  For, Subahan takes over a debt-ridden Confederation, to the tune of RM2.6 million,  from Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and also at the brink if the national team's last chance to qualify for the Olympics via the World League Semi-finals in June.
  And the corporate-man needs capable hands to help him source for sponsors, and keep his fingers crossed that Malaysia qualify for the Olympics so that they can use it as a bait to lure sponsors.
  He's choice for deputy in the men's section are incumbent vice-president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad and former Kuala Lumur HA president and the owner of a highly successful Kuala Lumpur HC.
  In the women'a arm, the contest is between incumbent vice-presidents S. Shamala and K. Maheswari who are both waiting for a strong signal from the delegates to upgrade themselves.
  Then there are six nominees for the men's vice-president and three in the women's section. Two women must be voted in with five men, or four, if the third women gets a higher vote than the fifth man in this section. 
  The six are incumbent Manjit Majid Abdullah (eight nominations), Penang HA president Datuk Ow Soon Kooi (seven), MHC treasurer Datuk N. Radhakrishnan (nine), Kedah HA president Sathis Kumar (seven), A. Vijayshankar (one) and Datuk Wan Ahmad Nizam (six).
  The women's vice-presidents, minimum two posts, will see a three-cornered fight among Juriah Abdul Wahab (three), Nik Zarah Kadir (four) and S. Nagula (Four).
  The most intense battle is in the men and women's deputy president's posts, while its straightforward in the veep section.
  On Monday, Azmi threw a challenge to George to sign a document stating that he will source for funds and give out grants of RM50,000 per year for four years to all 16 affiliates and Azmi will ask the delegates to give all 30 votes to George.
   George did not swallow the bait as he feels the most important task at hand, if he is elected, is to make MHC debt-free and then the parent body can start taking care of their affiliates.
  "First of all I would like to state that I will not back down from the elections, and I will be there tomorrow (today). And I am also not going to reply to Azmi's challenge because there are bigger tasks as hand to solve in MHC before we can start looking at how to help the affiliates.
  "For starters, Azmi was a deputy-president with the old Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) and senior vice-president with the MHC for many years now but he himself could not give a guarantee of RM50,000 per state per year during his long tenure with both MHF and MHC.
  "The delegates know this as its an open secret. As for me, my track record with MHC was only as a treasurer for two years and it was not a decision making department as compared to Azmi's.
  "But my involvement with hockey since the last 10 years has its own records and delegates know my contribution as the KLHA president which has the best run league in the country and is financially strong.
  "I have also contributed at the club level as owner of KLHC which has a proven track record and evolved from Arthur Anderson to Ernst & Young to the current form. The club is self funded.
  "So, those coming to vote tomorrow must decide based on track records and not just sentiments because they will decide which direction hockey takes for the next four years," said Koshy.
  Whatever the outcome today, MHC must still wait until the World League Semi-finals is over before they can start formulating a plan to fill up their empty coffers, and turn some former empty promises to concrete plans. The presidential speech will outline how this can be achieved in as short period as possible.