A TUTORIAL FOR THE PRESIDENT OF OUR CYCLING FEDERATION

Well into work again today and my pit stop at the SS14 BHP station to check on the competition prior to heading to the office turned out ot be an eye opener.
I don't usually pick up Sinar Harian, but a glimpse into their page N31 today got me smiling. Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) president Tuan Haji Abu Samah, has finally taken the time to pen some stuff and earned himself the recognition of being a columnist in a newspaper.
Before I get to your tutorial, Tuan Haji, let me wish you a belated Selamat Hari Raya and pohon maaf zahir dan batin banyak-banyak atas segala kesilapan.
Now, Tuan Haji, as you have accused the NST of being misleading and merely a newspaper that likes to carry controversial stories, negative ones on cycling, I wish to give you my piece of advice since I have been writing for a newspaper longer than you. Hope you take it in good spirits.
Congratulations on your column entitled "Tour de France paling primadona". It is just unfortunate that the column isn't available off Sinar Harian online. So, I will have to type in excerpts of your column.
Firstly, we do not try to mislead the public by giving them false information. Whatever we write, 9.9 times out of 10, happened. The 0.01 point out of that, is to save for the occasional mistake.
Now I do accept your advice as stated in your column on puasa enam, although for me personally, the Raya goodies were too good to pass up.
It is also good that you have finally taken note of the threat of doping in cycling.
But Tuan Haji, I did think that you were also the organising chairman for Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) in 2007 and you will resume that duty for next year's edition.

Now Tuan Haji, you stated in your column, very impressively, about doping being a problem in the Tour de France, "sebuah kejohanan berprestij, setanding perlumbaan Le Tour de Langkawi dalam kategori 2.HC (hors classe)... Telah merosakkan kredibiliti acara lebuhraya lelaki. (Translation: Tour de France, a prestigious competition of the same standard as Le Tour de Langkawi... Which has spoiled the credibility of men's road events.)

Tuan Haji, I believe I have done the right research and have been informed correctly through information available everywhere in the cycling annals, that there are three monuments of cycling. The Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. These are related to as GRAND TOURS or GT in short form. They are not 2.HC race "setanding dengan LTdL".

It is the same in tennis, where we have the Grand Slams of Wimbledon and the Opens of Australia, the US and France. There are four monuments in tennis, the biggest of all, even more important to Rafael Nadal (he said so) than the Olympics. In short, you can organise a Malaysian Open with all the big stars and the biggest prizemoney on earth, but it will never be a Grand Slam. What Le Tour de Langkawi, as much as we love it, is, a 2.HC (hors categorie) race on the UCI Asia Tour calendar. It is part of a continental circuit. It is still an important race, the biggest race in Asia. You can move it a notch higher, by gaining entry into the Pro Tour circuit, but that is as far as it will go. It will never be a Grand Tour as that is what cycling is about - three monuments, not four.

Allow me to also reproduce the parts of your column which I feel compelled to question, as so:

"Apakah kerana 'seekor kerbau membawa lumpur, semua orang harus terpalit?" (English: Just because a buffalo is muddied, do everyone else have to be muddied as well?)

"Sukan berbasikal tidak harus dihukum hanya kerana beberapa pelumba menggunakan dadah di Tour de France." (English: Cycling should not be punished just because a few riders use drugs in the Tour de France.)

It is very honourable of you to stand in defence of road cycling, against sudden proposals to exclude the sport from the Olympic programme. But Tuan Haji, you have to do it with proper facts, otherwise you will just look not too clever and nobody will take note of what you say. At least not as much as I am doing here.

Tuan Haji, doping in cycling is not only a problem in the Tour de France. I can make available for you a report I wrote to present to our president of the International Association of Cycling Journalists (AIJC) Mr. Gilles Le Roch in December last year, which might enlighten you on the reasons why I fear Asia is a lame duck when it come to the fight against doping in cycling. I am sure with your intelligence and the indespensible help of your string of advisors, you will be able to understand. More riders have tested positive in competitions other than the Tour de France for the past five years at least.

Doping is a big problem in cycling, not ONLY in the Tour de France, as you have professed.

If I read your column entitled "Tour de France paling primadona" correctly Tuan Haji, you seem to have taken a huge liking for UCI president Mr. Pat McQuaid. I do have a certain amount of respect for the good Irishman as well, or rather I did have, until I found that he was trying to hold my country to ransom over debts incurred by his friend Simon Patrick Donnellan. The kid who totally destroyed Le Tour de Langkawi in 2005 and 2006. But then again, they are your friends as you have publicised in your column, so we leave it at that.
That story is in the past, but if you wish to have a look at the file and evidence I have on that, you are welcome to invite me to the comfort of your air-conditioned office in Melaka Raya. Anyway, I also do like the kampung food served in the restaurant downstairs.

Back to status and levels of races.
Those of us who really follow cycling Tuan Haji, do still remember that it was Pat, who is behind the introduction of the global reform in cycling. That was his first task upon succeeding Hein Verbruggen as UCI president after that eventful UCI congress that preceeded the 2005 Road World Championships in Madrid, attended by you and the then UCI president hopeful Tan Sri Darshan Singh Gill.

It was then effectively established that the old tiered trade team format would be replaced by the Pro Tour and Continental Tour format as we have now, while the GTs were forced to confusing consequences, to be part of the Pro Tour circuit. But not so this year.

So, I find it funny that after three years of Verbruggen and Pat's somewhat controversial global reform being introduced, plus we're already moving into Season Four of the Pro Tour-Continental Tour era, that you are yet to have properly been briefed about the status of our biggest, most important race, LTdL. I wonder if you too, have taken a page off the guidelines written by certain outgoing leaders. Which is okay, as long as it suits you and your advisors.

I do not question your views and opinions Tuan Haji, as they are your right, only point out the misleading facts that you chose to build the foundations of your column on. They were the main facts, which if translated into English and spread around the world, would be embarassing for Malaysia.

Tuan Haji, I wish to inform you that the reason why many riders get busted for dope in the Tour de France is because the doping controls utilised in the Tour de France are the most stringent and up-to-date, while the organisers of most other races usually can't afford to have that level of testing. Which is why they do not get busted in Le Tour de Langkawi or other races, but suddenly evidence of third generation EPO or CERA can be traced in the Tour de France, sealing the fate of the most exciting rider of the year Ricardo Ricco. If they had the same resources as the ASO does, the organisers of earlier races would have busted them.

If you check properly Tuan Haji, you will see that in the Volta o Portugal, Tour de Romandie, even prior to the Olympics, in the Giro and everywhere else, but Le Tour de Langkawi, there have been riders testing positive for dope. Hell, they even test positive in out-of-competition testing, which is the norm these days. And tests conducted by national federations, as well as national Olympic committees (NOCs). Drug testing is part and parcel of the daily lives of each athlete on the world stage. I guess not in Malaysia.


As for doping controls, would you as the organising chairman of LTdL 2009, Tuan Haji, be able to raise about RM3 million just to establish doping controls of the same level as the Tour de France? Or would you not want to because then, LTdL will become a tainted race as more riders will be busted here?

I do not think so, as I do believe MNCF is facing a struggle just to get the race up and running. So, doping controls will comprise just bottles of piss, as was the case the previous 13 editions. No pre-event medicals, no blood tests. Even those are still only basics.

This is our problem here in Asia. Race organisers already struggle to fund the running of the race proper, thus having the extras to run proper doping controls become secondary as most organisers only can afford the bare necessities in meeting with regulations.

So, Tuan Haji, it is good that you as the president of the MNCF have taken note of the threat of drugs in our sport. But I do hope it wasn't merely part of your publicity campaign run by my friend, former Berita Harian sportwriter Halmi Samad, to get your column up in Sinar Harian, but that you sincerely mean to take up the battle.

The battle is a hard one Tuan Haji. A lot of research, a better understanding of the situation and history behind doping in sport, plus strategic action is needed. I have found some rather intriguing information and studies being done by National Sports Institute (NSI) director Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz, which was startling since it showed just how far behind and how much catching up we have to do.

Tuan Haji, I do hope that you gather the right information, as it is readily available on websites and many a printed matter, in order for you to present arguments based on credible facts in the future. I believe that you, more than anybody else, should have a copy of every updated UCI regulations at your disposal too, so you can readily look into it.
If that isn't enough, you are welcome to visit the library at my home at No. 2, Jalan SS 14/6D, Subang Jaya, and share what I have learned from my substantial collection of books on cycling, even on sports medicine and cheating. I guess you will not touch Salman Rushdie, but nevermind, nothing to do with this matter. If you have to know, I get an adrenaline rush, like I'm keeping a gun in there or something, just by having Shalamar the Clown by the shamed writer.

I always believe, Tuan Haji, if you can catch the cheats, please do. It also makes for good writing and lots of stories for us in the media as well. But if you can't, then you either rethink your priorities and strategies or wait for others to catch them. Otherwise, lets just have a race. If not, you are just continuing on what everybody else is saying - that cycling is a tainted sport, but doing nothing about it.

I remind you again Tuan Haji, that you are the president of the MNCF and I find it rather embarassing that the president of the cycling federation of my country, believes that the Tour de France is of the same level as Le Tour de Langkawi and that cyclists only use dope to race in the Tour de France. I will not translate that column for the world. And hopefully nobody else does.

It is quite intriguing to see that you have given Pat McQuaid advice to "pantau" or monitor the movements of Lance Armstrong. You seem to be a very concerned cycling administrator Tuan Haji, which is good.

But Tuan Haji, you shouldn't make blind accusations about Indonesian rider Tonton Susanto using drugs to win the 1999 Sea Games time trial gold medal. He was alleged to have tested positive for ephedrine at the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2005. And he was cleared to ride after being given a one-month suspension by Ikatan Sport Sepeda Indonesia (ISSI). In fact, he rode for the Wismilak Team in the 2006 LTdL. These sort of statements, Tuan Haji, can land you law suits. I am sure Tonton, who regularly visits Malaysia, would not like to find a copy of today's Sinar Harian, as I believe he has the resources to take legal action. (Tepuk dada, tanya selera, lepas tu tepuk balik, tanya lagi sekali Tuan Haji..)

Lastly Tuan Haji, how come you are so concerned about road cycling at the Olympics, when our own national road team was left without a coach to care for their programme for nine months? And how come Tuan Haji, you did not step forward to help the team go for the Under-23 World Championships last month? The first step towards the Olympics for road riders Tuan Haji, is via World Championships as well as Pro Tour and Continental Tour rankings.

Thus Tuan Haji, I also hope that your sudden grave concerns for cycling are truly sincere and from the bottom of your heart, not just because the MNCF AGM where elections will be held, are closing in.

Thank you for your time.

P.S.: I do find many parts of the column, which concern the IOC warning to road cycling and Pat McQuaid's lines, a direct translation of this AP article which you too can compare by clicking HERE. Now, now, now Tuan Haji, you're not going down the road with plagiarism are you now? Kalau nak tiru pun, jangan la sampai translate ikut ayat bulat-bulat. Tukar-tukar la sikit.. Like me, see? I just take the style from my friend Rizal Hashim's famous Open Letters in the Malay Mail, but I write it myself. If I can do it, you can too!