Striding together with a purpose

Liew (right) speaking to Soh, Santokh and Chiu during a gathering of #AnakAnakMalaysia influencers.

WHEN Eco World Development Group Bhd chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin was an undergraduate in Universiti Malaya in the early 1980s, the student body shouted and screamed as one Malaysia.

“In those days in UM, we – Chinese, Malays, Indians and all other races – worked together, stayed together and watched football together. There was nothing that differentiated us by race or religion,” Liew said during a gathering of #AnakAnakMalaysia influencers held at the Bukit Bintang City Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Among the #AnakAnakMalaysia influencers in attendance were Malaysian football legends Datuk Soh Chin Aun and Datuk Santokh Singh, and Chiu Keng Guan, director of the hugely successful OlaBola movie.

“Since Santokh, Chin Aun and Chiu are here, you guys remind me of the days I was in UM,” said Liew.

“In my university days, during the game you played against Korea, we were all in the canteen shouting and screaming as one Malaysia.

“Thanks to the movie (OlaBola) for bringing up and showing us that we are still Malaysians.”

The game he was talking about was Malaysia’s historic win over South Korea that put us through to the 1980 Olympics. OlaBola, a feel-good movie set in 1980, focuses on the national football team training to qualify for that Olympics.

I was in the audience listening to Liew’s dynamic speech because I’m one of the #AnakAnakMalaysia influencers.

The event was also the launch of the Anak-Anak Malaysia Walk 2016, which will kick off at the Bukit Bintang City Centre on Aug 14 ahead of the National Day celebration.

The 3.4km walk is organised by Star Media Group Bhd in collaboration with property developer Ecoworld.

When I arrived for the gathering, I was pleasantly surprised to see Santokh. I haven’t seen him since he coached The Star’s futsal team about 13 years ago. He taught us the triangle system.

“Morning Santokh!” I said. Although he’s a Datuk, Santokh is not the type of Malaysian who is particular about his honorific title. And I plonked myself on the sofa to have a chat with the former national player who played in that match against South Korea.

“Santokh, why are you participating in the #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk?” I asked.

“I like the concept. It is an opportunity for Malaysians of all races and religions to come together,” he said.

I’ve been fascinated with the Malaysian team that qualified for the Olympics as I was told that it was a truly multiracial team. So I asked the football legend, “Santokh, is it true that your national team em­­bodied the spirit of multiracialism? I heard that the peninsular Malaysian players bullied Sabahans such as James Wong and Hassan Sani?”

“No lah, we didn’t. It was called friendly ragging,” the 64-year-old living legend joked.

“How was it back then in terms of race relations,” I asked.

“In those days, we had multiracial national team, which today we hardly see. It will be good to bring back the olden days,” Santokh said.

“Why were there more multi­racial teams in the olden days?” I asked.

“They gave everybody a chance to play and they had a good mix of races who fit into a team,” he said.

“How about now?” I asked.

“I don’t know whether they are still practising it. Today, football is very hard for me to comment on,” he said.

“Why hard?” I asked.

“Hard because you can’t see much good. Now most are not playing for the love of the country and the love for the game. They are playing for the good of the dollar. That’s not good for national football,” he said.

While I was interviewing Santokh, Soh arrived. And in the way they greeted each other, I could see that they were BFFs (best friends forever).

“How was it during your time when you were playing for the Malaysian team?” I asked Soh.

“Football, of course, is not a one man’s game. It is a team game. You need 11 players to play together. During our time, I would say that we always played together. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, we had Chinese, Malays, Indians, Kadazans and so on playing for the national team,” said the 66-year-old living legend.

“For us footballers, there is no such thing as you are Chinese, Malay, Indian or Kadazan. We don’t talk about race. This was something great. Whereas today, you don’t see any Chinese or Punjabi at all. And there are only a few Indians playing for the national team, which I think is sad,” he said.

“Why is it sad?” I asked.

“Because Malaysia is a multiracial country and we need everybody to participate and contribute to the nation.

“I always believe that we have to be together to achieve a higher target. For example, during our time we qualified for the Olympics and Asian Cup,” he said.

Soh continued: “It is sad to say that now only Malays and one or two Indians are representing the country. We need everybody to contri­bute.”

“Why is our football like that? How did this happen?” I asked.

“Chinese are not playing football because most of their parents emphasise education more than sports. This is because for the Chinese, their chances of going to public universities are lower than for the Bumiputras,” he said.

“Is this a reflection of our country?” I asked.

“I won’t say that we are not united. But the thing is, there are some problems with certain groups and it is not very encouraging as far as racial relations are concerned,” he said.

“I hope one day with activities like this (#AnakAnakMalaysia Walk), we can try to bring everybody together. I always believe that we were once Malaysia, we are not one Malaysia.”

Later, I spoke to Chiu, the OlaBola director. I asked him: “How do you see Malaysia today? Why do we need an #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk?”

“Sometimes we need such an event to bring together the different communities. I think we need to keep the values from the good old days. Nobody should think about race. We should think that we are Malaysians,” he said. “It is a good chance for everyone to do something together.”

I’ll walk the #AnakAnakMalaysia talk on Aug 14. Come walk with me.