Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Accessibility to "The Proposal" submitted to the YB Minister Youth and Sports

Journey started with an open letter and a signature campaign dated 23rd July 2008.

Three meetings were held with YB Minister of Youth and Sports including the full presentation on 22nd October 2008 at Parliament.

As the tenure of "102" former hockey internationals had ended with the submission and presentation of the proposal, we believe that the document should be accessible to everyone who loves hockey and supports Malaysian hockey.

Please see below for the proposal.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Formal Presentation to YB Minister of Youth & Sports

On 22nd October 2008 at 11.00am in Parliament at AJK Room No. 2, there was formal Presentation of the Proposal by “102” Former Hockey Internationals.

Although the Proposal is 99 pages the presentation covered approximately 58 pages and took nearly an hour.

In attendance with the YB Minister were the Chairman of SAP and the DG of NSC. There were other officers from KBS and NSC. The “102” were represented by 10 of them.

The main Presentation was done by Mike (Maninderjit Singh) and Mirnawan Nawawi. The introduction and closing was the specialty of K Enbaraj.

The Minister was fascinated with the “Road Map for Hockey” comprising of the Game & Administration with the relevant elements. Indeed the Minister recognises that the “Road Map” could be utilized for other team sports.The fundamentals of "The right person in the right position" and "The road to excellence" caught the Minister's attention.

The key aspect of the Presentation were the bold “Recommendation” which relates to:
¨ Affiliates
¨ Office Bearers
¨ Strategic Planning

It was emphasized if we get these 3 absolutely ,the game of hockey would have a rock solid foundation.

In principle the Proposal recommends an “Open Door” policy for affiliation with certain criteria of entry and sustaining the membership.

It also comes with an innovative idea of requesting for “Tax Breaks” in the form of “double deduction” for sporting expenditure as the means to attract corporate organizations to participate and become an Affiliate.

On top of it, it recommends that MHF shall solicit for a “Charitable Status” making it easier to obtain donations.

The aspect of Office Bearers, seem to infuse a quality control process of qualification and experience in hockey to permit participation in MHF election.

The proposal embodies an Election Vetting Committee to pre-qualify the candidates.

The proposal spent substantial time on Strategic Planning covering:
¨ Master Plan
¨ Budgeting
¨ Marketing Unit
¨ Business Unit

In the Master Plan it details “The Vision” and “The Mission” and Targets for a period of 8 years. The existence of the Master Plan presupposes the requirement of Policies and Standard Operating Procedures, which are essential for good governance.

Budgeting is brought into the forefront to confront the prevailing weakness and to create the principles of transparency and accountability.

Marketing and Business Units are recommended to be created to encourage the game of hockey and to permit MHF to become financially independent.

The 3 key strategy elements of Affiliates, Office Bearers and Strategic Planning were utilized in areas of Coaches, Development and Database and reflected the very success if it is implemented..

Finally, in the “The Way Forward” the Proposal recognizes the “Recommendations” require a major structural change i.e. constitutional amendment. It realizes this is not easy and has suggested the following approach: -

¨ Main Intervention Strategy (MIS)
To allow MHF to rehabilitate itself within a time frame but report to the “Task Force” that is to be set-up by the “relevant parties”.

¨ Alternate Intervention Strategy (AIS)
If MHF chooses not to adopt a self-regulatory process then the Sports Act comes into play, where a Special Committee takes over MHF by suspending it first.

This drastic measure must be made known to FIH and the Special Committee revamps MHF and hands it back to the Affiliates including the new members.

Such actions are only possible if KBS, NSC and OCM referred to as “relevant parties” get together and decide that it is better for the future of hockey.

When the Presentation concluded, the Minister was thoroughly impressed and his questions were mainly related to Sukan Teras and ISN.

At the end of the Presentation, the Minister had a press conference and attached is the Bernama’s report of it.

With this “102” Former Hockey Internationals role and involvement in Malaysian hockey has officially ended.


Bernama's Report.

Proposal By 102 Ex-Internationals To Be Handed Over To MHF

LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) -- A proposal on how to reform Malaysian hockey, submitted by 102 former national hockey players, would be handed over to the new Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) committee.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the 99-page proposal submitted by the group contained a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of how to improve and develop hockey in the country.

"Apart from hockey, the Ministry also welcomes similar initiatives from former athletes of other sports," said Ismail Sabri after listening to a detailed briefing by the groups representatives Maninderjit Singh and Mirnawan Nawawi here Wednesday.

The MHF are expected to hold their Annual General Meeting cum election for office bearers on Nov 1.

Ismail Sabri said the groups proposal had two sections, one detailing the game of hockey and the other touched on the administration of hockey at national and state level.

Meanwhile, National Sports Council (NSC) Director-General Datuk Zolkples Embong said among proposals submitted by the group was to set up a data bank of national players for easy reference by coaches.

"The group has also outlined short term and long term plans aimed at qualifying for the World Cup and Olympics within five years," said Zolkples.

Last month, a group of 102 former national players, managers and coaches had raised concern over the poor state of hockey in the country and urged the Minister to intervene.

The group later submitted a memorandum to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is also the chairman of the Cabinet Committee for Sports, Ismail Sabri, Zolkples, Olympic Council of Malaysia President Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar and Sports Advisory Panel chairman Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad.

Malaysia, ranked fourth in the world in 1975 and now ranked 15th, had failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2006 World Cup and 2008 Beijing Olympics.-- BERNAMA

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Formal handing of Proposal to YB Minister of Sports .

The full Presentation to YB Minister on 9th October was postponed at the 11th hour as the Minister had to attend a function. Notwithstanding this the Minister still wanted a copy of the Proposal, so as he could study it before the full Presentation that is to be scheduled to another date.

2 copies of the 99 page Proposal was handed over to the YB Minister of Sports at Parliament on 15th October.Present with the Minister were the Chairman of SAP and the Director General of NSC. The Minister seem impressed with the Proposal but wanted sometime to review it.

4 former hockey internationals namely Mike (Maninderjit Singh), Mirnawan Nawawi, K Enbaraj and Azlin were present on behalf of the "102 "Former Hockey Internationals. Also in hand was Murali Elangovan, the person who designed the whole booklet.

The Minister was also informed that the tenure of the "102" Former Hockey Internationals had come to an end with the submission of the Proposal.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Presentation of Proposal to signatories of "Open Letter" i.e. 102 Former Hockey Internationals

On 8th October 2008, the team presented the 99 page proposal titled "The Urgent Need to Rejuvenate Malaysian Hockey to World Class" to the former Malaysian hockey internationals at OCM Board Room.

The Proposal in principle incorporates "The Road Map of Hockey" covering the 2 components i.e. Game and Administration.

For the "Game" component, it identified 12 elements and for the "Administration", it identified 10 elements. A critical analysis of 22 elements were undertaken.

The "Recommendation" covered 3 key elements which is considered the main aspect and its application on 3 other elements were displayed.

The meeting in principle endorsed the presentation to the YB Minister on 9th October 2008.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Reminder - Today is the last day for submission but you still have the weekend.

On Wednesday 13th.August, we posted the "Framework and Guidelines" for your submission which would be collated and encompassed as a submission to the YB Minister. The dateline set was 22nd.August and the day has arrived. All those who have yet to submit kindly do so, as technically today is the last day.

As today is Friday and the collation work commences on Monday, you could still use the weekend to post your views through the official e-mail. We would appreciate if you can find the time to assists Malaysian Hockey with your ideas, so as Malaysia can yet again be in the forefront of World hockey.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Media Reports: YB Minister is concerned - "Wants proposal in a month".

YB Datuk Ismail Sabri, the Minister of Youth and Sports acted in great speed to meet the Representatives of the 102 former hockey internationals. In a 2 hour meeting on 4th.August, he too was concern where hockey is today compared to the past. He wanted honest opinions beyond what was documented in the open letter.


The 8 former internationals present in the meeting had frank exchanges with the YB Minister. Also present at the meeting was SAP Chairman YBhg Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad.


YB Minister in concluding the meeting wanted a proposal from the 102 former hockey internationals within a month. He is as interested as all of us that Malaysia should be a force in World Hockey.


Below is the various newspaper articles of the meeting:


Kindly "click"the page to enlarge.













Now the hard work starts and everyone input is vital to the success of the PROPOSAL.





Additional Guideline on Submission of Proposal

Yesterday, we posted a subject matter titled " Submission of Proposal to YB Minister - Framework and Guidelines" and we seek your co-operation that you use the blogspot e-mail: formerhockeyinternationals@gmail.com
to submit your inputs as per the outlined framework.

Please do not use the "comment" column under each article as that is specifically related to the subject that was published. Further using the blogspot e-mail, permits us to acknowledge receipt and maintain confidentiality.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Submission of Proposal to YB Minister - Framework and Guidelines

Following our meeting with YB Minister of Youth and Sports, the 102 former hockey internationals were requested to submit a proposal how to bring Malaysian hockey to World Standards.

We are therefore appealing to all the former hockey internationals who signed in support of the open letter to provide your inputs. Others are also welcome.

To facilitate the preparation of the proposal we kindly ask of you to follow the following framework:

  • Why is the current performance declining?
  • Is there any key strength in current performance despite the decline?
  • Recommendations to arrest decline and built upon the current strength.
  • Recommendations to uplift hockey to world standards.
  • Any other recommendations..

In line with the above framework, there are few guidelines for the submission:

  • Dateline: 22 August 2008.
  • Please state name and email address for acknowledgement of communication..
  • If there is no acknowledgement, kindly re-check with Enbaraj or Azlin..
  • Refrain from any personal attacks..
  • No obscenity in language.
  • .Submissions shall be treated as confidential.
  • The team preparing the proposal shall reserve the right to use the information.

Once the draft proposal is prepared we plan to have a discussion/presentation to finalise the proposal.

We look forward to your submission. .

Media Reports - "Unfavourable & Favourable views".

Below are 2 articles from the newspapers, of which one relates to the National Players Hockey Association's Presidents views and the other is that of the Chairman of the Sports Advisory Panel (SAP).

Some may question the wisdom of giving publicity to NPHA's President's view on the matter. The rationale being that the blog is taking a transparent view so as all the 102 former internationals are fully aware of what is happening. We are not expressing any views on the matter other than stating that the former internationals are intelligent enough to know what they are doing.

The 2nd article is from SAP's Chairman who takes the view that such an action by the 102 former internationals is something unprecedented. It is something that was never done before and it shows the interest and commitment of the former internationals.

Please "click" at page to enlarge.







There are other newspaper articles that shall be posted in due course.