Are they embarrassed? They don't seem embarrassed. They certainly should be. I refer to the a whole bunch of idiots in my country which are making me embarrassed to be called a Malaysian. The incident is the recent National Swimming Trials at the Malaysian Games in Trengganu which finished with an unprecedented 21 new national swimming records. With the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 just a couple of months away, everyone was impressed with our swimmers form.
There was celebrations and our swimmers were feted for their strong performance which seemed almost too good to be true. Almost too good to be true. In fact, really too good to be true. So someone decided to measure the length of the Olympic sized pool at the Trengganu Sports Complex.
Red Face No: 1 - A local newspaper which was alerted by swimming fans and swimmers, measured the 50 m long Olympic-sized pool and repeatedly found it actually measured only 49.6 m or 40 cm short. If true, the phenomenal number of records set could not be officially counted. The poor swimmers. Everyone pointed to the culprit which they decided had to be the authorities who managed this new Sports Complex.
Red Face No: 2 - The Amatuer Swimming Association of Malaysia (ASUM) gave a good showing of righteous indignation and berated the authorities for the shoddy construction of the swimming pool that was now found to be short of the mark........that is, until it was revealed that ASUM had been paid to certify the pool was to Olympic specifications. Well, the egg was now on ASUM's faces.
Red Face No: 3 - Despite calls to officially measure the pool and end the dispute, the State Director for Public Works decided to share the shame by coming out with a statement that said that the pool was "fine" during the Malaysia games and there was no reason to re-measure it just because someone now claims it is short. When asked what would get him to re-measure the pool, he said that there must first be a formal complaint.
Red Face No: 4 - ASUM Secretary said that the local chapter of ASUM had measured and certified the pool to be 50 m previously and urged the public not to doubt it as it was measured by "professionals".
Red Face No: 5 - The spokesman of the local chapter of ASUM seemed less certain when he said, "We HOPE the pool is the right length." After a pause, he added "Of course, 21 games records are on the high side but ........then again, many national swimmers were present."
This has been going on for the last three days. Awwww, come on already fellas........just measure the stupid pool.
Why aren't they embarrassed?
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Age, a work of art
1 week ago
18 comments:
Officialdom never wants to publicly admit to wrong! Hope they sort it out.
I hadn't heard about this, but I'm sure once the games begin, we'll hear where it stands.
How 'bout that sidewalk chalk art, though. Pretty convincing.
It always be difficult to come to the point admit mistakes, sort it out.
Things like this is the reason I no longer watch my favorite sport anymore - corruption seems prevalent in many of them. I refer to the figure skating scandal of a few years back where the Canadians shared first place with the Russian couple after it was proven how corrupt the judging was.
You can’t embarrass a public official. They are immune. They have learned to ignore reality and do their own thing.
Don't feel too bad LGS. In Malaysia, there is the issue of smaller pools. In America, we have "performance enhancers." Cheating is abound...
Dear readers,
Apparently, the latest news is that the authorities claim to have re-measured the pool and confirmed that it is 500 m long (the correct length). Public is left wondering why they did not carry the measurement in the presence of the media to end all further speculation.
meggie,
I have more respect for an official that admits to a mistake than one who thinks the public is a bunch of idiots easily swayed by evasive statements.
Tom,
This guy has great sidewalk chalk art which always appears three dimensional.
marja,
Some mistakes are due to negligence and should not be tolerated but in most cases, the important thing is to fix the problem rather than seeking someone to blame.
janice,
I remember that sad incident as well.
dr. john,
The British used to use the phrase "Public Servant" rather than "Public Official". I think the former conveys a better attitude.
andre,
thanks for your visit and comment. What upsets me most is their responses to the issue seems to treat the public like idiots. Don't be a stranger here.
It sounds like a case of wishful thinking. If they don't measure the pool, the records still stand. If they do measure the pool, all is lost.
That picture is amazing. It took me a few minutes to figure it out!
As far as civil servant misfeasance/malfeasance goes, that is pretty light weight stuff Squirrel. Want to read about the big leagues? freep.com...text message scandal for the mayor and contract award investigation by the FBI for the city council.
The pool thing can be explained by expansion and contraction.
How many Malaysians does it take to measure a swimming pool? Can expansion and contraction really account for 0.4m ? That seems like a lot to me.
josie,
You are right about the wishful thinking. In Malaysia, (as with many places, I'm sure) the attitude of "if you ignore it, it will go away" is quite prevalent. As for the picture, it is a sidewalk chalk drawing done with a 3D effect. A speciality of one gentleman but his name slips my mind.
Mark,
Oh, we have the big leagues here too. I find it too depressing to post on it. But to give you a taste of it, our present Deputy Prime Minister is currently accused of ordering the murder of his alledged mistress and implicating the police to help blow up the body. Our ex-Deputy Prime Minister is accused of sodomising his aide.
Depressing stuff,no?
Claire,
Haha! I like that joke. It suits the circumstance perfectly. Or "How many press statements before someone measures the pool?" And no, contraction cannot account for a 40 cm difference. Malaysia has had one previous example of this type of guffaw. We have a stadium that was supposed to be for football and athletics. They built the stadium round the field but when they tried to lay the athletic tracks, they found that they have run out of space.
Fairly typical among them who feel they are God deigned to hold power Squirrel.
Our mayor also has a cloud of murder hanging over his sorry head.
I read about the accusation of sodomy as a political ploy. The man either did or didn't but he's already been acquitted of the same charge once regarding another individual eh? It is curious that his opponents can't come up with a different charge to silence him.
Mark,
Indeed, it does seem strange that they couldn't think up a new charge against him. The alternative theory is that this time he instigated the whole thing to get international sympathy.
Mark,
Indeed, it does seem strange that they couldn't think up a new charge against him. The alternative theory is that this time he instigated the whole thing to get international sympathy.
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