SEA Games botches – negligence, incompetence, ignorance?

YOURSAY | “The ineptitude in such a small-scale event is horrendously shameful.”

Did we screw up the SEA Games, Khairy?

Plain & Simple: Dear Malaysiakini columnist Fa Abdul, thanks for pointing this out. It's true that many Myanmar people in Malaysia and Myanmar have been upset by the incidents at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games 2017.

I hope the authorities and designated officials from both countries immediately take necessary and effective actions to prevent the same unfortunate incidents from occurring again during the Games. Fair play for everyone.

JD Lovrenciear: Only a person who truly loves her country can write honest, painful truths like this. But will the politicians take responsibility, or throw two cares to the winds to capitalise on their own selfish political expediencies?

Ghostwhowalks: If the report is true, then shame on Malaysia. Malaysia, please be a good host and a good sport.

Winning is not everything but welcoming guests to your country will leave a lifetime impression on our values and our standing as a nation.

Anonymous 1008081486708244: I just heard on radio that the bus taking the Myanmar squash players on route to the squash arena met with an accident. I hope the players are fine and the bus driver has a valid driving licence.  

Worried Sick: Imagine, a Malaysian bus driver ferrying a foreign team to an important game having no licence to drive a bus. Only in Malaysia, this can happen.

Only in Malaysia will a minister responsible for an event like this can simply get away by saying 'sorry'. (The Indonesians must be livid for insulting their flag.) What a disgrace.

The Analyser: Let's be realistic, Fa. Malaysians stuff up just about everything they do. Largely that is due to two things: negligence and the inability to make good decisions. Both are learned characteristics.

Negligence is rampant, the result of ignorance and lack of common sense and non-existent planning and organisational skills. A characteristic that is passed down from generation to generation.

Similarly, inability to make rational decisions has been undermined by parental over-protection and religious nullification.

On the whole, decisions are made on the basis of selfishness and greed. Hence the alleged lack of tickets for Myanmarese.

Newday: The tickets for Malaysian fans were all sponsored? Very odd. No wonder we achieved over 70 percent pre-games ticket sales.

Anonymous 1607021442717254: The SEA Games website sucks. The only useful information I can get out of it is the medals tally. The schedule for events is not interactive.

I can't get information about the timing of the events, ticket prices or the venue easily. I was thinking of going for some of the events but changed my mind since information on them is not easily available.

Basically: For a country that has hosted the Commonwealth Games before, the ineptitude shown in organising such a small-scale event is horrendously shameful.

Yes, the website is pitiful and amateurish, considering the standards of today's international games sites. The Astro coverage is also shameful - there are absolutely no detailed schedule listings. Viewers have to guess what game is being screened.

Imagine, this is happening on home ground. Coverage of the past Asian Games a zillion mile away was, needless to say, far superior.

Add to this the various bungles just on Day 1, this just affirms my belief that this government has become truly incompetent and dysfunctional, as it is headed by incompetent, self-serving politicians interested only in their own glory.

No doubt their ineptitude would demoralise the lower ranks, and it shows in every government department we look at. 

Mosquitobrain: The Sports Ministry officials are too busy and obsessed with chasing after the medals. The more the merrier. Sorry, no time for other matters.

Annonymous: Meritocracy is a dirty, filthy word in Malaysia. When only quota "ministers", cronies and blind loyalists are appointed to helm every vital institution with absolute power for 50 years, the untouchable supremacists will turn into little Napoleons and little Talibans and believe they are indispensable.

Just look at the hideous facts of the situation and the rot from the 50 years of corruption and destruction of every institution in the country: education, finance, Bank Negara, the judiciary, the police, the civil service and every one of the enforcement agencies. You will see the destructive path Malaysia is heading towards.

The facts are all there, even the blind could see: the once powerful ringgit plunging from US$1 to RM2.10 in the 70s to the current RM4.30.

We once topped in education standards and a powerful economic tiger up to the 80s, but now heavily in debt and corrupt to the core. The worst has yet to come.

Moontime: No feel-good-factor here. Instead what we saw was sheer incompetence, embarrassing gaffes and faux pas galore. Where did we go wrong?

First, choosing the wrong person to do the job, Second, late planning and last-minute work resulted in snafu. Third, relying on dubious contractors whose sole intent is to make as much money as possible and screw patriotism.

Will the sports minister take the blame and resign? Nope. It's business as usual to him.

Anonymous 2336891439170985: Oh dear, and we think that Sports and Youth Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, being a product of Oxford, may be our future Malaysian official number 1.

No wonder Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Md Yunos thinks he can do a better job. - Mkini