Five Lessons In Sports I Learn From My Kids

O God please help me to win for i always want to win,

But if in thy inscrutable wisdom thou willest me not to win,
Then make me a good loser.
For when the one great scorer comes to write against your name,
He writes
Not that you won or lost,
But how you played the game.

Last Sunday, my son took part in his first real competitive event. We registered him for the Under-10 event, which meant he will be competing against older boys. There were a few events that all participants will take part in namely the 100m, 200m and 400m sprint. Then there is the Tug-o-Skate and a few other "fun" event so everyone will have fun.
My son has been roller-blading for the past almost 1-year. Skateline at TTDI is the school that offer structured classes and tiered grading to ensure the students are ready for more complicated moves all in the intention to make them a more complete skater. In the past 1-year of involvement, my son has moved up only 2-stages. All Students have to pass the first basic course to learn, among others how to stand up with skates on and now to fall correctly.

Heads up, palms down, fingers up

The Sports day was an opportunity for the students to mingle with other skating school students. What I immediately noticed was how different the approach of teaching and coaching were between different skating schools. Lets just say, comparatively, safety is the utmost criteria for Skateline as opposed to others I've noticed where all you need is well, a skate.
Stiff Competition
The event opened up my eyes on how competitive some children are nowadays. Many of them were in their element. Focused. Fearless even. Zooming out I noticed that the level of competition correlates with the children's surrounding and the adults that train, coach and provide for them.

Maximum SPEED! 

To a large extend, i felt a bit left out that I did not "share the same competitive" passion with my kids. Then i remembered the RMC Sportsman's Prayer (above) and this particular phrase

But if in thy inscrutable wisdom thou willest me not to win,

Then make me a good loser.

Me and my wife always believe that we can't win all the time in life. Something got to give. Some we chance along our life are arrogant winners and many are not used to losing. We have our fair share of encounter with bad losers (read : sore losers) where everything is "other's fault" and never theirs. While winning is always good, losing is actually better (just don't make it a habit or excuse to do badly all the time). 

don't hold your breath yet...noticed the coach's finger on the right side?

I was a happy man on Sunday. You see, my son did not do too well in all the sprinting events he entered. He came up last in all in what me and my wife terms as "fashionably slow". We know he tried his very best. In fact, he did not want to come up last, but the fact is that he now realised he is not "as fast as he thought". 

Me and my wife, or our families (extended) do not have any sports gene. We don't expect the kids to inherit any and a lot of these will be based on hardwork if he wants to improve. But is he ready? Perhaps.

In the 200m event, he was determined to do better than his last showing in the 100m. But as luck has it, he took the wrong line being confused on the direction he was supposed to go (a lot of this got to do with him not listening to instructions when the coach told everyone you can go LEFT or RIGHT around the roundabout). He clipped off another participant, but luckily, he was the only one falling. 

Below is the video of the 100m sprint and the 200m fall that happened to him. Short it may be. But you can see the level of competition amongst the kids.

He finished the race (200m) last and he knew it was his mistake clipping the other participant off. As a parents, i did break my heart to see him shedding some tears while nearing the finishing line.

It's ok.

Compassion. That is lesson number 1 if you want to take part in Sports. Never look down on the losers as one day, they will end up as a winner. I assured him that all is OK. His only mistake was following the group to go left when his line was right. He picked himself up, despite the knock on the bum and carried on to finish it. 
Then, the 400m sprint. Demanding for kids as this requires both strength and endurance. This time around, he wasn't last until a fellow participant fall. What surprises me next was him slowing down to check on his friend. I heard it loud and clear as my son asked : "Are you ok?" 
As he and the boy skates off, the last placed participant overtaking them and my son skating back "fashionably slow". 
From Lesson 1 : Compassion, he has learnt Lesson 2 : Empathy. I was a happy man. I know my wife was too. 

It is also about helping while in competition

The last event was Tug-O-Skate. A modified version of the Tug-O-War but using skates. It was super tough staying vertical as everyone kept slipping and falling. 

Never give up when down

That was when he learnt Lesson 3 : Team work and Lesson 4 : Not giving up when down. After three rounds of tugging, falling and pulling, his team won. He was a happy boy. Victory for him that late morning came late, but it came to him nevertheless.

Good job boy!

Which brings me to Lesson 5 : Passion. Staying hungry to be better than what you already are is the best way to improve. This is not his first "medal", as he has in the past won in other sporting events. For a 7-years old boy starting out rollerblading as a way for us to allow him to learn to take instruction from other adults (preparing him for his life later?), he has been the most consistent attendee for classes held on weekend. It takes a lot of passion, and mind you, no forcing from myself and wifey, for him to get up, gear up and go do what he likes. 
That one morning itself, my kids has reinforces back into what I've always believe when we indulge in sports. Have compassion, for that we will have empathy. Always be a team player and never give up. Keep the passion high and you will bound to be a useful person when you grow up (or old). 

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The Ride That Should Not Had Happened

Sunday. 6.00am. Alarm woke me up to the usual tune signalling it was time to get up and prepare for the Powerman Putrajaya cycling loop and running session, or BRICK as how we some of us familiar with the sports would call it. Woke wifey up as i went downstairs after shower and changing to my favorite CSC sleeveless jersey which I wore for my last Ironman in 2010. Wow! The jersey felt super loose - mainly due to the weight loss that has taken place over the past 1 year.  loaded up the bike on top of my car and headed to pick my mum-in-law up from her home. She was babysitter designate on weekends that me and wifey wants to go out and train together.

Bright Superb Morning 7am

Upon reaching my MIL's place, i noticed that she was not awaken yet. I called wifey to ask if she had called to wake up her mum, of which she said "Since 6.45am, but no answer". I started ringing the bell, calling the house phone and calling her handphone - no answers. I started to get worried as I called wifey again to see if she managed to get her. It was NO. Thoughts started racing in my mind; did she fall while going to the toilet?". "Her heart is weak, Oh God no, i hope it is not!". Many thoughts raced through my mind that morning. After about 30minutes, i decided to leave and go back home - to prepare for any eventuality. Upon reaching home and as I was about to make another call, the phone rang.
"Where are you? Already 8am, aren't you supposed to be here by 7am?", My MIL asked.
It was a mix of anger and relief, and we started laughing. Picked the MIL up and called Doc Pui San to meet her by 9am to cycle the Powerman Loop.

Babes at Putrajaya

We started off right at 9am and was lead by Pui San as she knew the route. I drop back a little so i could be near wifey which is on her 4th official outing (cycling). Weather was perfect, company was great, speed of which we were cycling were decent.

Cycle on the leftmost lane. Putrajaya is popular with cyclist because less traffic and wide road.

Because it was route familiarization, speed was not important - moreover, wifey being beginner to an extend and not gotten her "cycling legs" yet, could only go that fast. Her average has been at 20km/h, which is pretty decent. Putrajaya has many cyclists using the road as training ground. The huge roads and minimal traffic particularly on weekends is ideal and a safe conducive place to be.

Waiting at most intersection to ensure everyone accounted for

Immediately after the last photo above (taken at 9.21am), my wife was hit from the back by a motorcycle. I was just 50m ahead of her waiting for her. I looked back and all i saw was this motorbike going at speed and rear ending my wife. It was horrifying. I saw my wife being thrown over the handle bar, landed on the hard hot tarmac and i could not do a single thing. I dismounted and ran towards her. My life was in a blur. I can't recall how i felt that moment except one thing that was certain - worried.
Upon reaching her, Wifey was sprawled on the road, her left side of her face on the tarmac and she was crying in pain. Her right shoe was missing, the sunnies flung off her face, bicycle a few meters from her and the water bottle a good 10meters away. I quickly (and tried very calmly) assessed the situation.
1. Limbs are all where it should be and not in any peculiar position - ok, no broken/mangled bones.
2. Still talking/crying - ok, conscious.
3. In pain - ok. Alive.
I spoke to wifey and asked if she could move herself - my logic if there is any neurological damages, she would not be able to do so. She could and she slowly sat up in a daze - all the while crying and her face bloodied. What i saw was bad bruises on the left side of the face at the cheekbone.
And then, anger came to me.

Moving the bike to the roadside

I confronted the motorcyclist, a girl why she did not see my wife. Her reply was an unbelievable "Tak nampak" (did not see). WTF is that? My wife could had died!
My fingers were trembling as i tried to recall Pui San's name on my phone. I dialled once and there was no answer - Oh God, please do not let her keep the phone in her car! Then the phone rang and i tried as calmly to tell her what happened.
"OhShit!", her first respond.
So happened, a group of men (which i later found out was Polis from Presint 11) passing by Lebuh Sentosa stopped to check and radio-ed for ambulance and polis for back up. Pui San reached soon after and another cyclist (which i later found out his name to be Tengku Amir) stopped to offer help.
Things were in a daze and I was super worried for wifey though she appear to be talking. The moment I heard her scolding the girl - TWICE, i knew, she was lucid. Amir told me he lives nearby and will get home to get his car to take the bike. I am grateful. A stranger that stopped and helped!
Within 5 minutes, a traffic polis arrive and within the next couple of minutes, the ambulance came. Wifey was check by the medical assistance/emergency response personnel and was moved to the ambulance. Pui San checked wifey for any other broken bones or internally injured organs by pressing her back and seeking response. I told Pui San to follow wifey to the hospital while i clear up all the items on the road.

The motorbike and the girl's sibling and mother. Ambulance left for hospital.

Amir soon came with his car and took me to my car so I could load up all three bikes and then rush to the Hospital. Amir helped me to get to the IPD Putrajaya to leave the bike (as evidence) and then went back to the Hospital again. There i found out Amir is a deputy public prosecutor (DPP) and works in the AG's Chamber in Putrajaya. Unassuming. We also found out that the girl's father was a polis personnel. Amir left soon after as he has other appointment. I can not say enough thank you to him for the help he rendered - including informing me of my right to report and how i should report it to the polis.

Johann at the Polis Station. I removed the front wheel to minimise the chances of it going "missing".

IPD Putrajaya - Traffic Division

About an hour waiting outside for wifey with Doc Pui San, a Medical Officer (aka doctor) came out to inform us about Wifey's condition.
"Fracture kat tulang belakang (fracture at backbone). We are not sure stable or not stable", he told me and Pui San.
I felt the world crumbled around me. Time stood still.
"Kita dah inform specialist untuk tengok", He said before leaving.
That was the longest 2hours in my life before I was allowed to see wifey.
I was shown the x-ray by the Ortho specialist of which she could not confirm (due to resolution of the x-ray) if the fracture was fresh or old. She was in the opinion that wifey should be warded for observation with CT Scan done soon.
"But our CT Scan is not working sir", She said.
Knowing that myself and wifey has hospitalisation insurance, we decided to discharge at own risk and plan to bring her directly to Damansara Specialist.

Face bruised but still in high spirit

Taking extra care to drive carefully and having wifey sitting in a reclined position, we arrived at DSH and was placed in the A&E. The MO came and arranged for CT Scan after finding out that was the next course of action. CT Scan was performed within the next 30minutes and the Ortho specialist came in within 45mins of admission. The doctor confirmed that there was a fracture at T12 Thoraic backbone. The fracture happened at the front portion of the bone where it is thicker and though fragmented into three parts, missed the spinal cord. 
Which was a relief.

OK. Can smile again.

Wifey were ordered at least 24hours in-ward observation to ensure that the lower limbs do not feel numb, pins and needles etc which could indicate a pinched nerve or injury to the spinal cord. Doc Azman, which were supposed to meet up with us that afternoon for home cooked dinner came to visit us in the Hospital. Wifey's painkiller started to wear off and she was given another jab. Her lower back was bruised and there were a lot of pain radiating from the waist area. 

The more serious injuries

October 8 was our wedding anniversary and it was spent in the hospital. I am just glad that there wasn't anything more serious than :
1. Fractured T12 that misses the spinal cord
2. Concussion
3. fractured cheek bone with burst capillaries around the eyes and cheek.
4. multiple bruises on arms, legs, ankles which will be a pain when taking bath.
5. road rash on right shoulder that will be a pain when wearing bra.
6. Bruises above the lips consistent with kissing the tarmac.
7. Bruised lower back and bum, which makes it difficult to lie down flat and even walk.

Other wise, everything is superfine.

Happy Anniversary Darling!

Wifey was discharged the day after and we went to the IPD in Putrajaya. Walking was a pain and she can manage small steps - reminds me of the time she just gave birth. The painkiller given by the doctors were the only defence between pain and comfort. After the report was done, we were allowed to collect the bicycle and the girl that hit wifey too, could collect her motorcycle. We found out that the girl is an undergrad in a nearby local uni and just gotten her license about a week before the incident. She was apologetic and personally called wifey up to convey her regrets.

Material damages were mostly on the bicycle. These are replaceable unlike a lost life. We will try to claim for the repair/replacement from the Girl's insurance - which in our opinion is appropriate. 

Minor but not taking chances on the integrity.

broken rim and brakes.

possibly broken RD as it hyper extend in a way i never seen any RD did

The helmet that wifey wore that day was new. It actually saved her head from more possible head injuries. I inspected the cracked helmet and found that it broke into no less than five pieces (i initially thought it was three). The right side, which her head apparently landed first, were compressed by at least half an inch at certain part, deforming the helmet. There was indention marks on the helmet caused by the strap.

Broken into a few pieces and you can see the indention clearly. Noticed the compression on the thickness of the helmet on the side of the helmet.

The left side of the helmet with original thickness of 1-inch

the right side, compressed

The left side thickness in comparison to a key

The left side, which were compressed visibly.

The above shows why cyclists should wear helmet. In a very lucky accident like these (as in NO fatality), the helmet saved wifey from further serious injury to the head. Even with the helmet on, wifey is still feeling sore due to this knock. 

There is a few things that we learnt from this incident:

1. The incident where my MIL did not wake up and delayed the cycling outing were likely fated and a subtle way to get us to consider cancelling it. We are rarely late for anything if appointments already made.

2. Bring your IC or a photostated IC or any sort of documentation to prove your identity. Wifey forgot to bring hers - for the first time!

3. If you have no hospitalisation coverage - consider to get one. 

4. No helmet, no ride! This is no excuse. We saw a group of cyclists without helmet cycling around Putrajaya!

5. Always make sure your handphone is charged. Mine ran dangerously low that morning.

6. Never cycle alone. We were glad we did not!

It has been a week since. Wifey is slowly recovering and it will be another long 7 weeks before wifey will be so-called recovered. At the moment, the bruises at the back, the dizziness due to the concussion and the vanity of the cheekbone takes priority to heal.

And we can only hope the fractured T12 will also mend itself by then. Don't wait up too long, wifey will be back soon - and chasing after you.

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Overtraining - Breaching The Plateau

You have read about overtraining and how to spot it. Continuation of the article would obviously be  how we as an individual that has over trained, regain some sort of control and normalcy to our life where athletic performance are measure by our own achievement against ourselves. 

My dog Char Siew taking a recovery break from brisk walking.

Now that you have a better idea on overtraining and spotting it, here is How To Recover from it.
1. Rest. You Needed It.
A body can only repair itself during rest period. By resting it meant literally not exercising and taking a day or two off from training. 

Take a walk to the Zoo. See how these experts does it. Photo from my Instagram

2. Eat Well. Consume Good Food.
Good food are not necessary expensive food or a treat at an expensive restaurant. Remember that for the body to repair itself, you will need to eat. You are what you eat. So, resist the temptation for that super oily food but instead take in good protein like salmon and eggs. Take slightly more carbs such as brown rice, sweet potatoes to replenish the spent glycogen. Remember to consume good oil such as olive or grape seed oil. Tough, but very do-able.

Grilled chicken breast with fresh salads, nuts, eggs and raisins served on balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Photo from my instagram

3. Relax. Stay Calm. Breathe.
Perhaps it is great time to put in some stretching and learn to breathe again. I personally found myself not breathing adequately and take short inhalation when i should be generously flooding my body with oxygen rich blood made possible only by active breathing. Learning to relax and convincing yourself that "this break is well deserved" WILL help you bounce back faster than ever.

Watch a group of snail feeding. It was pretty relaxing for me. Nat Geo quality time! Photo from my Instagram

4. Start Easy. Finish Strong.
Varies your workout once you are ready to start again. Do not go out and run that 15km or lift that 50lb or immerse in self-absorbing triple spin classes once you restart. Working out should be fun, not stressful. What I do a day after every hard and intense workout is to really take the time to enjoy walking or brisk walking with my dogs or kids and family. Begin with something shorter like a 3km jog and slowly build it up again to your usual volume. But this time, you already know how to spot overtraining - and know exactly where and when you will STOP and teases the body again for that maximal gain that will surely put a smile on your face and an end to overtraining.

And everything suddenly became clearer. Photo from my Instagram

It will be impossible to find a one-fit-all solution to this problem. I would advise to listen to your own body and learn to be sensible. Only that way, we can understand our body and it's limitation better. That way, we can work around our weakness and further improve on it. Keep moving forward.

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Life Flashes In Front Of You

Hi all. As some of you might already know, my wife was hit from the back by a lady riding a motorbike at Putrajaya about 9.30am. She was rushed to the Putrajaya Hospital A&E where she was immediately stabilised. X-rays were taken of the whole body to determine any fractures. There were fragments of bones at the left cheek and multiple road abrasions on the shoulder, hands, knee consistent with a fall from a moving bicycle. CT Scan confirmed fracture at T12 aka the back bone after the ribcage. Luckily, the fracture is stable and missed the spinal cord. So yes, I am very lucky to still have my wife.
I Apologise for not updating the blog the past two days though it is another commitment of mine. The blog will be back to the scheduled posting tomorrow. I will update this incident for future reading separately in another blog entry once i get enough of rest and ensure my wife is recovering better. We are going to the IPD in Putrajaya to get her bike back and to lodge a Polis report.

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Overtraining - How To Spot It

Everyone training for something significant will experience what most sports people would call "overtraining". If it is not mitigated, it will lead to injuries, burning out and possibly dropping out of the program or the sports that they loved to do.

Feeling like you had stagnant in your progress?

Hectic lifestyle and continuous hard training contributes to "overtraining". While it could be misused term, what it essentially meant is insufficient rest before the next workout. It effects not just physical, but emotional and behavioral as well. Many underestimate the effect of  overtraining and not many will be able to recognise it. For this write up, i put myself through some rather un-called for routine just to simulate the condition. With sleep of less than 4hours on Friday and Saturday and with awesome hard mileage put onto both days (approx 36km bike, 13km run)

49km total for 29 and 30 September.

Some may argue why I put myself through this - and my reasons is simple. Just to better understand the condition and how one can learn to spot it and avoid it. After all, the most important key to continuous improving performance is to ensure that you do not burn out and/or peak too early before the race. Look closely at the week before my Desaru 116, my mileage were minimal and i had two rest day in between with 3km of walk (with the dogs).

Walking the dog is most of the time, a barefoot affair. Dogs don't wear shoes, right?

A workout that is lack in variety and with inadequate recovery, running the same distance at the same pace and limited/narrow range of intensity will eventually lead to overtraining. Some of us are too preoccupied by the mileage aka QUANTITY of the kilometers (or weight, frequencies etc) that we forgot to ensure a good QUALITY workout. Understanding how our body reacts to changes and (workout) stress is a tough balance - as we will always think "we never did enough". Sometimes, we "peak" too soon, only having to severely under perform at the A-race (a jargon typically used to denote a targeted race where the end result matters). And we start to blame ourselves for not performing. In actual fact, overtraining could already had happened and you are paying a price for it.
Here is how to spot overtraining 
1. Elevated Resting Heartrate
Easiest tell tale sign is the "higher than normal" resting HR. You have to be conscientious to ensure you take your resting heart rate the first thing in the morning for more accurate measurement. A typical 10 beats or more than the usual resting rate denotes that your body has not recovered from a recent training. As I happened to have surprisingly low resting (by my standard), i peg it at 10% or more increment as a general guideline.

Good example or indication. September 29 before i started the experiment was 38bpm. Morning of October 1, 43bpm. An increment of 13% more than usual.

2. Insomia
Due to the activities i put into both the days, I had a total of 8hours sleep for both days. It was only 3hours for me on September 30 before i set out to Marshall the race. Both days were ended with a run with yesterday's 6km completed at 9pm. With elevated heart rate and still sweating as the body finds equilibrium, sleeping was a task. You are tired, but your body just refuse to rest.
3. Changes in eating habit
You either lose appetite or you have a hearty appetite that is more than normal. For myself, i could not eat after an intense workout or a long workout. As evident in some of my longer races (like Ironman), i was not hungry despite no solid food for the whole day. Danger comes immediately the next day when the body starts to send signal to be fed every other hour. In short, your regular eating pattern changes, leading to possible weight gain (due to overcompensating of food) or not eating, thus discouraging the body from repairing itself.

But I will say yes to this bowl of Taiwan Beef Sirloin noodle - i think

4. Falling sick with cold or flu
Big quantity/volume training with inadequate rest will deprive the body from repairing itself, making it vulnerable to simple sickness such as flu or cold. The compromised immune system will take longer to cure and you will find yourself not feeling up to mark and this will then lead to withdrawal of working out, and ultimately causes mood swings. Sound all too familiar? (by the way, a friend is going through this, big time now)
5. Workout gets tougher despite it to be same distance/weight/frequency
This is when you feel despite whatever you are doing, you are not improving. To make matter worse, you slide further down on the performance scale despite putting in the same effort level and intensity. Your typical 5:00 pace suddenly become a slow 7:30 despite how hard you tried. You felt like a failure and aim to push yourself harder - only to get your body deeper into the overtraining mode.

Varies your training distance and intensity to avoid overtraining. Smiling help too

6. Muscle sore for days and injuries that doesn't heal
The typical burn and lactic acid build up giving the signature "muscle soreness" is synonym to a good workout burn. However, a soreness that lingers for a while and perhaps an injury sustained such as sprained ankles that takes long to recover could be the body failing to repair and recover itself. Thank goodness for my homemade foam roller.
7. But I used to run faster!
Race performance deteriorate and you can't hack the same similar timing - and you know it is NOT due to not training when you are hammering in the hours and mileages twice a day, everyday. On Sunday, my 6km recovery run was a level 3 effort as i feel the tireness creeping in.
8. Changes to other physiological activities
Due to all the changes above, one would find it easier to get irritated, short tempered, constant headache, lack of motivation, wanting to give up, lowered sex drive and worse of all, being in denial and continuing the training intensity ending up with injuries that will take years to heal - and that is if you are lucky to heal, that is.
Next: Breaching The Plateau

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The MINDEF Translation Fiasco

UPDATE Jan 12, 2012
The Wall Street Journal Southeast Asia edition has just give the MINDEF more coverage. Read about it here. Yeap, how can we, with Billion of dollars in Defence budget not use any for this PR exercise? The Defence Minister has pointed the finger to Google Translate - which clearly in my original post showed that Google Translate was pretty accurate and no "Poke Eye" translation.

Taken from Here

Originally posted on January 7, 2012
While most of you already had a good laugh from the Malaysian Ministry of Defence goofing up on the English translation on "Ethical Clothing", some of you might only hear about it only yesterday when the local paper had a page two report about it.

The translation is really really bad. It was so really bad that it couldn't even be the job of Google Translate. As you can see above, "menjolok mata" was literally translated to "poke eye" when it should just be "scantily". Even that is not accurate as it should be "revealing clothing".

It sort of reminded us all of the Bahasa Malaysia to Chinese translation when the China premier came a-calling to Malaysia somewhere mid last year.

Taken from Internet. Can't recall who the photographer was, but it was from a retired reporter from Straits time. Thank you in advance, if you sees this.

The two above were a classic case of laziness. In the days of internet and "everything must be fast", we have sadly lost the fine art of proof-reading a work and took everything for granted.
"seringkali kita terlupa yang bahasa itu jiwa bangsa. Walaupun bahasa yang akan digunakan sebagai perantaraan atau bahasa kedua, kita mesti memastikan penterjermahan bahasa itu adalah tepat dan jitu. Jika tidak, kita akan menjadi bahan ketawa rakyat sedunia."
I ran the above through Google Translate and i must say that the translation was almost spot on.
"often we forget that the language was the soul of the nation. Although the language to be used as an intermediate or second language, we must ensure penterjermahan language is accurate and precise. If not, we will become a laughing people worldwide."  
So, pray to tell, which translation program is our dear Ministry of Defence using? The highly inaccurate translation not only cause a major embarrassment for the Boys in Uniform, but the government as well.
The webpage in English was taken down about 3pm yesterday, after much damage has been done. A quick check on Google Cache was still able to cache it until 30minutes later when the cache was forced to clear and the corresponding page was pointed to the Bahasa Malaysia version. Then by 5pm, it was an "error 404", or webpage not found. For that, I have to give it to the Boys for some damage control - and luckily, not all Malaysians with internet access has read it.
So, if you are the 20% that has not read it yet, here are the screen capture that i managed to PDF - afterall, the evidence makes great literal education of WHAT not to do on a public page in internet. But you have to admit, it was the single-handedly most viewed page with the highest unique hit for MINDEF's webpage. I am envious of that.

By the way, if you think the above is bad, our Malaysia Education Ministry website too, has English that falls below standard. Speaks volume about the quality of A's we are churning out from PMR, SPM and STPM.
Read about it here

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