Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 23, 2022 - May 29, 2022

On the night of May 12, Malaysians were in agony. Not only because traffic in the Klang Valley had returned to normal (read: horrible) after a week of Aidilfitri bliss, but also because Malaysia failed to qualify for the semi-final of the 2022 edition of the Thomas Cup in Bangkok after losing to eventual champions, India.

Yes, you read that right — India. Watching the Malaysia vs India quarter-final match on pay TV that is known for going all fuzzy when there’s a drizzle, never mind rain, one of the commentators said: “Years ago, we could have not slept for 48 hours before meeting India and still won.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Just a day after we celebrated the men’s team match against Japan — a recent powerhouse in the sport — our men succumbed to the might of Srikanth Kidambi, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar.

Just a decade ago, nobody knew these names, except maybe for Srikanth. Those were the days when Datuk Lee Chong Wei ruled the courts, even though he always looked slightly malnourished. Seriously Datuk, now that you have retired, eat a bit more?

Being a 90s kid, I am thankful I had the opportunity to grow up watching and learning from our sporting greats — people such as the Sidek brothers, Nurul Huda Abdullah, Datuk Nicol Ann David, Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi, Datuk Azizulhasni Awang and, of course, Lee.

Okay, I know the Gen X-ers and Boomers would say that there were many more sporting giants which Malaysia produced before the 90s, and I agree. 

All I’m saying is that since the 90s and the early 2000s, it has been a long time since new legends have emerged to walk among us. And that includes in our political and economic sphere. Who will excite the younger generations and bring about those moments that excite the nation?

Just last week, the heads of governments of Southeast Asian countries were hosted by US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC. While our dear prime minister is keen to have Tesla invest in Malaysia, unfortunately, it was Indonesian President Joko Widodo that Elon Musk preferred to meet with.

There was a time — albeit long gone — when Bursa Malaysia was the largest capital market in Southeast Asia. Then we lost the crown to Singapore, before slipping behind Thailand. I’m pretty sure that Indonesia has also overtaken us.

Even in politics, we are still talking about Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Najib Razak – two individuals who like talking to each other so much that they recently spent an evening talking about cake and the size of it. 

Hey, at least we can still stand tall when it comes to building mega skyscrapers, right? Never mind if they are fully occupied or not, at least every square inch of the city is being developed. Hurray!

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