Death Awaits...

...if Guilty.

Most of the time mad redo1 writes about sports on these pages. But there are a few other things that he writes about too, and this is one of them.

I woke up with the TV showing a caption "Guru dituduh edar ganja" (Teacher accused of traffiking cannabis). Suddenly a familiar face appeared on the screen and my fear was confirmed when the newscaster announced the name of the teacher.

Abdul Karim Mohamed.

We just recently re-acquainted with one another through Facebook (where else?) and frankly, I was surprised that he has become a teacher. An English teacher.

Abdul Karim was a junior when I was at my school in Dungun. We shared the same block and came across each other almost daily. As time went on he developed into a person that did not fall into the category that I would like to hang out with due to his need to be seen as rebellious.

When I was appointed to the prefect board Abdul Karim certainly did not make my life as a prefect any easier (of course, he was not the only ones). He was naughty with his shenanigans but not to the extent of being a juvenile.

Thus, when I read through his Facebook that he was teaching English at the respected male only Sekolah Menengah Agama Sultan Zainal Abidin Ladang, I was surprised but glad that he has become a good person. As a teacher, he is way better than me.

Upon hearing the full charge which carries the mandatory death penalty, it saddened me greatly. With the additional information that he was tested positive for substance when the police arrested him, the thought that came across my mind was 'Abdul Karim is being Abdul Karim that I knew in the past'.

For all the 'difficult' moments that he gave me at school, never I wish he would receive this kind of punishment in return.

Admittedly I do not know Abdul Karim that well after our school days to really pass my judgment on him.  But he seems to have the full support of his students who are saying all the positives about him on his Facebook wall. It is good to know that during that time he has done so many good things and made positive impact on so many young lives.

Hopefully, the positives will far outweigh the negatives.

As for the charge, it is up to the courts to find him guilty or innocent. I for one will take a keen interest on the development of this case and for the sake of those who love and care for him, I hope the judgment will be the latter.


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Wise Man...

...He Was Not!

The Higher Education League (Liga IPT) 2011 has begun since early March with a number of higher education institutions in Terengganu taking part. Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) are playing in the second division while Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Kolej Komuniti Terengganu (KKT) are trying to qualify to the divisional tournament from their Eastern qualifying group.

Unfortunately, mad redo1 is yet to be at any of the matches due to other engagements or fixture mix-up. The other day he went to the Gong Badak Sports Complex to cover a Liga IPT match between UMT and IKIP.

As it happened the week before when there was supposed to be a match between UniSZA and UniSel, there was also no Liga IPT match anywhere within the sports complex. Instead the Terengganu Sports School, SMK Bukit Nanas were taking on SMK Tun Hussien Onn of Johor in the 2011 U-17 Ministry of Education League.

Since he was already there, mad redo1 decided to snap a few shots of the match which already went underway. The sight of the pitch gave him much horror as it was already in a bad state due to the heavy rain that has fallen over the past few days.

To compound the matter, an U-14 match between the two schools had already taken place prior to the U-17 match on the same pitch. Terengganu were a goal to the good at the time.

Then the sky opened up and torrential rain with strong wind engulfed the complex leaving almost everybody drenched. The pitch was quickly becoming waterlogged and play was impossible. Fortunately the interval saved the players from taking further punishment from mother nature.

Many were thinking the match would have to be abandoned due to the state of the pitch. Most parts were waterlogged and the markings were not clear at all. However the match commissioner gave the thumbs up for the match to go on.

It was a decision that defied belief. Later mad redo1 heard one of the reason for the match to go on was to teach the players to play in such conditions.

What the heck?

Did he realise that playing in such conditions would invite potential injuries to the young players? Or there was no good football possible except for the 'Wimbledon' kind that kick the ball as far up the field as possible and hope it would bring an opening to the opponents' goal out of it.

To make matter worse was the way the referee was handling the match. He seemed to happily blow every time a Johor player went down and was quite generous in handing out cards to the home team players, which resulted in a double yellow for one just prior to half-time. However he was very lenient when it came to the visitors.

This drew howls of frustration from the majority of the crowd which already entered the officials area due to the heavy rain.

Then someone from the home camp shouted angrily in a general direction, more due to frustration than any intention to cause any trouble. Unfortunately, the match commissioner who was quite experienced due to his long involvement in football refereeing responded, which was surprising.

It became a heated exchange during which the commissioner shouted for the man to 'bark' outside. Being equalled to a dog was the last straw and the crowd became rowdy. A few more joined in and suddenly nobody care about the match anymore, and the fact that Johor managed to level the score late in the match.

It was a tense moment with the match officials having to stay on the pitch to avoid confrontation while the commissioner quickly packed his things and went into hiding near to the home dressing room.

It was a situation that could be avoided had the match commissioner practice restraint and patience. Instead of responding the way he did, the match commissioner should act nonchalant and just record the progress of the match and its situation.

Perhaps, he should be wiser and not continuing with the match at all in the first place due to the pitch and weather conditions during the match.


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Howzat!

It was by chance that mad redo1 saw a boy running on the SKPCT field and began to swing his arm in a way that reminded him of his cricket playing days. Then he threw the ball towards a familiar looking apparatus that resembled a wicket.

Wait a minute.

It was a wicket and there was a batsman waiting to hit the delivery mad by the bowler. There were people playing cricket on his school pitch, something took him really by surprise as the sports was not really popular in Terengganu.

His curiosity took him to the pitch side where he met a group of innocent looking boys and a few older ones. Sitting on a concrete stool was a man who looked like a teacher. He turned out to be a teacher.

Encik Kamaruddin Husain was part of the officials for the Terengganu Under-12 and Under-18 Cricket squad preparing for the MSSM Cricket tournament scheduled to be held in Seremban during the school holidays.

We got into a long conversation regarding the state of cricket in the state, where the Terengganu Cricket Association was recently re-registered as an active association after being de-registered a few years ago due to lack of activity.

Frankly, mad redo1 had been away from the cricket scene for too long to keep up with its development.

It was a surprise to him that cricket is more popular among the day school compared to the days when he was still in secondary school when the sports were only played by boarding schools with tournaments revolved around zones rather than national meet.

Encik Kamaruddin himself is a teacher from Guntong Secondary School in Setiu. Frankly, have you heard anyone playing cricket in Setiu before? But there you are, a few of their students made it to the squad for the U-18 squad. Only four are from boarding schools.

Unfortunately, it's development received little encouragement due to the fact it is not a core sports. With a preparation of just two weeks and little tournament experience to go by, Encik Kamaruddin does not put too much hope in challenging for honours in Seremban.

However, he hopes that for the junior team members will stay on in the sports in order to form a good base of players that will challenge for honours in the future.

Terengganu Under-12 Squad: 

Wan Muhammad Najmuddin Wan Azmi (SK Kerandang, Besut); Muhammad Syafiq Fitri Aziz, Muhammad Hamizan Awang, Muhammad Azrie Ridzuan, Muhammad Khairul Amin Ismail (SK Sungai Buloh, Kuala Berang); Muhammad Rizan Tarmizi, Abdul Muhaimin Azhar (SK Balai Besar, Dungun); Muhammad Fikri Azli Amli (SK Gong Pasir, Dungun); Muhammad Daniel Abdul Ghaffar (SK Panchor Merah, Setiu); Muhammad Ammar Zakaria, Muhammad Fitri Mohamad Arman, Fairoz Fauzi (SK Bintang, Setiu); Hafiz Hakimi Sapri (SK Kompleks, Gong Badak); Muhammad Fahmi Norazezan, Qamaruddin Alias (SK Padang Kemunting, Kuala Terengganu)

Terengganu Under-18 Squad:

Muhammad Syahir Sazali, Amirul Syazwan Zokornain, Mohamad Khairul Azwan Sulaiman (SM Sains Dungun); Mohamad Nur Faris Mohamad Khir, Mohamad Faizuddin Abdul Kadir, Mahammad Asrul Mohamed, Mohamad Hasraf Adzmi, Tuan Mohamad Saiful Tuan Me (SMK Guntong, Setiu); Muhammad Azli Mohammad (SMK Kuala Jeneris, Hulu Terengganu); Abdul Hazim Awang, Muhammad Alif Mohammad (SMK Matang, Hulu Terengganu); Mohamad Muzammil Roslan, Ahmad Firdaus Mohamad Khir (SMK Tok Dor, Setiu); Mohamad Huzaifi Yahya (SMKA Nurul Ittifaq, Besut) Faiz Fawwaz Razak (SM Sains Sultan Mahmud)

Technical Chairman: Kasbie Yahya
Managers: Mohamad Hairi Mohamad Noor, Juhaimi Jaafar
Coaches: Yahya Mahad, Kamaruddin Husain


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A Half Year...

...Review

Six months have passed since AKS#1 left the nest for a hostel life at SMAAZA.


Yesterday mad redo1 and Linda went to the school for a review of Berg's performance during the recent examination. Suffice to say that she did not perform too bad and as a bonus Berg is in the top ten percent among her peers.

That is something to cheer about.

Unfortunately, all are not that rosy with Berg still insisting on a transfer to another school, which something mad redo1 is not really fond of doing as a mid year transfer means disruption to her studies and also the process of adaptation to a new environment.

For me, most of her problems stem from her relationship with her fellow students as they found her straight talking nature is quite insensitive. At the same time their nosy nature of poking their nose at personal matters is also the source of irritation for Berg, and to a certain extent for Linda and mad redo1 too.

For me it is up to the individual student on how to dress outside the school during their personal time as long they do not imitate the style of Lady Gaga or Beyonce. But no, some of the students have to bring this matter to the teacher.

The teacher should have put a stop to this gossiping nature at that time and not become a gossiper herself. That if we live in a perfect world. Unfortunately, we don't.

Thus Berg's future at SMAAZA is still remain unknown for the time being.


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