Isn’t this too much?

The Singapore Strait Times, in an editorial published last Sunday entitled "This is sport?," may have gone a bit too far. This column is reprinting en toto the piece for you to make your own judgment.

"Nobody can be certain any more whether the Southeast Asia Games showcase sport, as the word is understood, or indigenous diversions. This is no facetious poser.

The Games are at risk of becoming a nonentity if the respective national Olympic committees do not draw a line between athleticism and cultural eclecticism. The most recent host, Vietnam, introduced native pastimes as quaint as shuttlecock kicking. The Philippines, next year’s host, has committed a worse heresy by dropping soccer and badminton from the provisional list. Can one conceive of Hamlet without the prince? That the Filipinos have no tradition in those sports hardly excuses them the axing. To round off the logic, they might as well insert pineapple-fibre weaving as a medal event. Arnis, a local martial art, is in. So also a mutation called dance sport, which is just lovely for a party-loving people.

But also missing are a number of other conventional sports: volleyball, table tennis, weightlifting, cycling and sailing among them. Unless reinstated in the final list, the Manila Games will be a mongrel cottage exposition. South-east Asian people have a great deal of respect for each other’s cultures and traditional art forms. As well, the Filipinos are essentially following a trend set by previous hosts, who had included minority disciplines they were good at. The unwritten code of permitting the host full liberty to design the programme has to be broken now if the SEA Games are to honour youthful athleticism. A Malaysian official who feels likewise also made the point that it is not South-East Asians’ habit to offend the hosts. This is a virtue and the region’s great cultural impediment as well. The Asean political grouping has suffered for it. But with fun and games, one can get away with a measure of firmness. Sorry, Manila, you should yield."

From The Readers

I read your article about Microsoft offering a reward to capture the creators of My Doom virus. They should also include a reward to capture the forger of my Microsoft contract. My company is the first local dealer of Microsoft, even selling original software 17 years ago when there was nearly 100 percent piracy. Before filing this case, I have been emailing its responsible officers including Bill Gates about the terrible treatment I have been receiving from their local office over two years ago about the way they handled our contract. This was totally ignored until I filed a case against them. The main issue is really the failure of corporate governance in a publicly listed company where a partner is seeking to correct an injustice and to voice legitimate grievances. By the way, this is the first of such Microsoft lawsuit in the world made by one of its partners. Mind you, this is not just a simple case of not meeting quotas. Forgery is a criminal act that must be seriously investigated and resolved. I hope the new Filipino Managing Director of their local office will accomplish what his predecessors failed to do–cleaning up the ranks and effecting good corporate governance. – Orly Morabe, managing director, Compulab Technology Corp.

(Compulab has recently filed a $1.4-million lawsuit against Microsoft. Named respondents in the civil case filed at the RTC of Makati are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and company officials Peter Hunt, Richard Francis, Kevin Hou, Edwin Boon, Kerwin Wong and Michele Kagahastian. Francis and Hou are former country managers of Microsoft Philippines who are no longer part of the Philippine subsidiary. The complaint was filed after Microsoft Phils. decided to terminate the large account reseller status of Compulab two years ago following the alleged failure of the system integrator to meet the sales quotas given by the software company. In his complaint, Morabe said that Microsoft Phils. and its officials have allegedly conspired to gradually kick out the system integrator from its roster of large account resellers in the Philippines. Morabe also accused Microsoft of favoring other Philippine dealers over Compulab.)

For comments, e-mail at rmaryannl@yahoo.com