Nicol Ann David - truly National Treasure

First of all, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to Raja Petra Kamarudin for linking my blog to Malaysia Today. It is special to me. I believe he acknowledges my work and thus, a big thank you to RPK again. I have always enjoyed reading his articles. I enjoy reading them now and expect more interesting creative juices from him in the future. Today, Sembang Coffee Shop would like to discuss about a young penangite girl.

Yes, our lovely world number one in Women’s Squash, Ms Nicol Ann David. And she has been defending her World Number One since she won it. Never drop to number two and then one again. Consistently number one. I think one of our badminton players was world number one before, no? But was it only for a while, I am not too sure about that. I guess our badminton squad has something to learn from this young sportswoman. Why Malaysia is so poor in sports. Our football team cannot even beat Iraq. For our own information, Iraq is now a war-torn country. I always find it ironic while we enjoy peace and stability here in Malaysia, Iraq can beat us although Sunni and Syiah and Baathist people are fighting. Making it worse, US and UK armed forces are there. But their sportspeople can win medals in international games, Malaysia can’t? WTF!!!

But amidst all those lost of hope, there is still a beacon of hope. God has been kind to us. God still gave us a jewel. God still gave us a chance. God still believes in us. Nicol David was given to us so that Malaysia can still proudly say at least we still have a world number one in squash. Thus, this is my topic today, Nicol Ann David – truly the national treasure. She is much more valuable than the whole rizab negara we have. How much ar? Billions of ringgit? Do you think pride can be bought by money? Hey, I believe there are many countries out there which are ready to poach Nicol anytime. World number one wor…who doesn’t want? Consistent some more. But despite all that she still stays loyal to Malaysia. She still represents Malaysia. She can always migrate to another country or represent another country. But her parents are here, her sisters are here, her family is here, her relatives, her friends, her social circle, her environment. Can you buy that with money? She wears the Jalur Gemilang on her headband or her outfit every time she plays for Malaysia. Can you imagine her wearing a Singapore flag on it instead? Think and see.

Nicol is our heroine indeed. Look at her awards. Look at her trophies. Look at her collections. Look at what her coach says about her. Look at how she responds with humility and what a low-profile personality she carries. There was once I remember she was criticised due to her lack of focus in training and hanging out too much with people but today, she proved her critics wrong. Hey, it is normal for teenagers to hang out ok? Even the youth can hang out. As long as you as don’t deviate too much and lose total focus on your aim, you should be fine. Those critics must think that she is a robot. Hey, people need to rest la, people need to enjoy la, and people need time out for themselves okay? Today she is world champion, anybody want to say anything bad about her? Go ahead. You all only have yourselves to laugh at. And by the way, I won’t be shocked to see critics coming up again if she happened to drop in the world rankings. Stupid critics!

I saw in a news report that she was awarded a condominium unit costing some RM300,000? The penang government should give her a bungalow instead. And don’t come and tell me giving her a big mansion would cause her to slack and deteriorate. Only a stupid idiot would do that. Yeah, you wanna compare with the Thomas Cup Winners in 1992 being given lavish prizes and then slack after that? Then you are an idiot. It is the badminton training system which causes the problem. Why do I say so? 1992 until 2007, are the players still proud of Thomas Cup? There are no shining players now. So it is not the reward problem but the management system. Hello, she is the world number one okay and she is a non-bumiputera. I think Rachel Grinham and other female players got a better pay than her, what do you think? But then again, we don’t go for cash or materials only, right Nicol? Yeah, I am proud of you. We, penangites and Malaysians are forever proud of you (those of us who see true merit of your struggle and dedication of course). Manage Nicol properly with the right technique and I am sure she will be number one for some time..hmmm..actually for quite a long time..how old is she? 24 is it? Kudos Nicol! All the best to you =)