When will Malaysia enter the World Cup?

Image courtesy of Google

I have been keeping track of some of the World Cup games of 2010 in South Africa. Although as most may know, I am not a real fan of football but would not mind watching a game or two for fun. I hardly know the players names! Haha!

What I have noticed in the games, is the high level of quality of sportsmanship and caliber of the players. You can notice the amount of strategy involved and the spirit of togetherness amongst the players. By looking, the players from the same team are like robots on a conveyor belt at a factory, working together to achieve the end product @ goal!

It's really like a 'war' out there with shoving and pushing. These are all acceptable by the referrees at an international level surprisingly. The smaller Koreans are not intimidated by the bigger Westeners. They gave their opponents a real good fight. It's really hard to choose a good team or determine who will win the world cup. Every country I admit is playing well. Let's also not forget the ball is round and that anything can happen!

As a Malaysian, I think to myself. Why am I supporting another country rather than my own country Malaysia? It is because we are bad! The fact that I am using 'we' is because I feel that the football team in Malaysia is part of my country that I love so much and call home. We are certainly not up to the bar compared to other countries that have progressed steadily in football.

The reason we are bad can be due to many factors. The slack in the processs of indentifying potential talent is one of them. The people behind the identification process are just too narrow minded. Football is big in Asia especially Malaysia. It should not be difficult to find really outstanding people who love the game and posess the passion to win in football. It is not necessary to search in the kampungs@countryside as there could be really good talents in urban areas as well. People should widen their horizons and find more sources of good talent.

I also feel that the management in sporting associations do not have the knowledge, training, education and experience to run such associations efficiently. This is unlike the West where we have coaches and referrees that have for example sports science degrees. It looks like the blind leading the blind over here. They just do not have a clue how to run such sports associations.

Players should also NOT be limited by race. I see majority of the players on the Malaysian squad are Malays. Could there be racism involved? I always thought there would be equal opportunity in our country. That would be sad really. I am most certain football is appealing amongst all races in Malaysia and I am sure you can identify really good players out of their community regardless of race. In St Xaviers Institution in Penang during my school days, there were football matches held at the quadrangles and the players were mixed Malay, Chinese and Indian.

There could be a lot of money / fraud involved to make a few people happy be it the players or the team managers. The government naively tries to promote something good for us here but people are taking advantage of funds and incentives. So much money of the rakyat is spent and just look at the end results. Looks like a bunch of kindergarten kids running after the ball rather than proper planning and strategy in-line. There is less passion for the game but more focus on the rewards as a national player.

I can imagine that it will be such proud news to note that someone from the kampung is now playing for the state/country. The players and the player's parents will bask in the popularity and attention from the kampung people. They will renovate their huts to look like Beverly Hill mansions and change their old Protons for Mercedes. This is so typical and can be widely seen. To add to the statuesque, it would be a plus point to get national titles like Datuk or Tan Sri.

So what about the glory of the game?

This is the reason I keep asking myself about when will we ever see Malaysia enter the World Cup. I hope you guys think about it as well.

Is there no such thing as second hand cars?

(Volkswagen Passat image courtesy of Google)

I travel quite a bit from one end of the island to the other end each day for work. Weekends no need to say lah as I am out of course... a lot! I am also a car guy. I love cars; the technology and innovation is just overwhelming at this point in time that I wonder what more can car manufacturers invent to make the car better. That said, I am also an economist, a person who compares value for money @ typical Penang kiam-sap/ stingy.

I can't help but notice the amount of new cars on the road. I think we are like in the middle of the PJ* series of car registration numbers. I think the Penang people are certainly rich. All having the latest Mercedes, BMWs, Hondas, Toyotas etc.

New cars these days are not cheap. If you exclude Malaysian vehicles, we are talking atleast RM 70k for a new non-national car. Of course one that was built in Malaysia though or as it is called the Completely Knocked Down (CKD).

A lot of people are taking big loans to get nice new cars. Banks are also capitalizing on this especially when the interest rates have recently gone up. I think it's like > 3.5% . From months and months to years(up to 9 yrs) to pay for a car.

New car sizes have actually become smaller for the price you are paying today than when it was the 1970s and 1980s. Cars back then came with more metal and less plastic! Haha! I can never convince you more; compare my 2007 Myvi with my dad's 1994 Volvo 940! All the metal of my car doors could make just 1 door for his Volvo.

Whatever happenned to checking out the local Motor Trader or Classifieds for good old car. I don't mean old as in antic. More like a 'used' vehicle. Used vehicles range from a couple of weeks old to years. Some have been very well taken care and even restored. Getting a used car would be a steal these days considering the trend towards new cars. You can get a pretty good used car for so much less than new.

For example, my bro who has a friend who has a 2 year old Volkswagen Passat 2.0. The car is great but he wants a car that can please him more in terms of technology, safety and style. His a car guy of course. Brand new then RM220k. Now... ur ready for it......................RM 140k.

Now this is nothing to be alarmed. However, have you ever realized or calculated after interest the amount of money lost on your own?

That is why I am suggesting, if you can't afford a new car or if your economically aware of the surplus in money to get a new car, get a used car. You would be paying much less for the same specification of a car but after 1-2 yrs. Cars have a manufacturing life-span of around 5-8 years in the market before they reach end-of-life. So the car would be relatively new/ up-to-date.

Considering how much value of a car depreciates, it wouldn't be a waste NOT to take a look at a good used car.

With todays stringent motoring rules especially in countries like in UK, the car will be thoroughly checked to ensure it is safe and technically sound. Car companies as well like Toyota and BMW also sell pre-owned/ used cars basically, that have gone through checks and restored to be sold as quality used cars. This is a good place to look for a used car as these companies have a reputation to uphold.

Spare parts I believe are plentiful for most cars on Malaysian roads so even if you can't get a new one, you can get a refurbished replacement part. That also if the chop shops in Malaysia are still around. Can get some pretty reasonable used parts.

But besides getting a used car, just imagine how much money you would have saved for other things like property that appreciates, better health insurance, funds for further education or going for a holiday. Come on people! That is what well spent money can earn you.

However with all this said, if you think about it, it is this new car segment people that over-flow the used car market in years to come for us to get our hands on them and offer us a wide variety to choose from! :)