My Say

The Federal Court of Malaysia has been asked to give a ruling on the Lina Joy case. For background read here, here and here.

To me, the arguments surrounding this case are mind-boggling, to say the least. I cannot understand how any ‘religion’ can try to impose its beliefs on someone who has already openly announced her conversion to another religion?

In any case, who but God can judge if someone is really a believer or not? Many people may go to the mosque or even Mecca, but does anyone dare say that they are Muslims in their hearts? I say that for matters of the spirit and soul, let’s leave them to God. We do not need overzealous religious police, who may actually give their religion a bad name and image. After all, isn’t God all powerful and the ultimate judge of all things? I hope some sanity and common sense prevail in this whole episode.

AirAsia, a low cost carrier, is now complaining that they are being unfairly treated due to the Malaysian Government’s decision to remove the minimum floor price imposed on Malaysia Airlines (’MAS’) earlier. This is rich coming from AirAsia. Read story here.

Ever since they came to the scene, AirAsia has effectively monopolised the ‘no frills’ flight sector. Kudos to them. This was achieved partly due to the floor price policy, which meant that MAS could not compete on fares, even if if wanted to. As with all monopolies, the customers are the ones who pay the price, in terms of quality of service, punctuality etc. I have personally experienced a frustrating 4 hour delay on an AirAsia flight from East Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur. Of course, the passengers are not expected to complain, as they are paying “cheap” fares. There is no incentive for AirAsia to improve, as they have a captive market - the masses who could not afford the higher fares charged by MAS. Also, as rightly pointed out by the members of parliament here, the owners have made a tidy bundle in the process.

MAS lowering their fares and competing with AirAsia directly will only benefit the customers and taxpayers. AirAsia now will have a taste of their own medicine. Not sure if they will like it…

I’m not a die-hard fan of football, but I enjoy watching a good game. Having followed quite a few games so far (only those that don’t require me to wake up in the middle of the night), I have a few comments and suggestions:

1) FIFA should really overrule objections by the referees and use video replay to help make the right decisions, especially for critical ones such as penalties and sending off of players. There have been too many blunders by referees during this world cup. The fact is that players are getting better at play acting and the referee can’t be everywhere at the same time. It’s one thing being outplayed fair and square, but another being ‘robbed’ of a win by a wrong decision. Case in point: the penalty against the Australians awarded to Italy.

2) Teams should be encouraged to play ‘foot’ ball. There are too many players using their heads, literally, rather than their feet. It’s no fun watching the European teams using their height advantage to constantly ‘head’ the ball in the air and rely on corners and sheer luck to score goals. Case in point: England and Peter Crouch. Crouch belongs on the basketball court, not on the football field. The only reason he’s in the team is due to his 6 foot 7 height, which the English team relies on to win the aerial battle and head the ball into the net. FIFA should consider disallowing the ‘head’ balls.

3) Teams should be encouraged to play attacking football. Nobody, except maybe for the hardcore fans, likes to watch teams put all 11 men in defence. Sadly, some teams use this tactic and win matches. FIFA should really consider changing the rules radically, so that teams who do not attack will not win. There is nothing more frustrating than to follow a match for the full 90 minutes, and then the 30 minutes extra time, for no goals to be scored at all.

Having said all these, what’s the big deal about football? I still don’t know…