The show will be running on August 12/16/20/24/29, with teams from Malaysia, China, Canada and Spain participating. Check out more details on MIFC’s website, and also check out some pics from MIFC 2007.

Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2008 (Image from MalaysianGP)

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen claimed this 2008 title, which also saw BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica finished on the podium… the first podium for the Petronas sponsored team at the ‘home race’.

The 2008 Malaysian F1 might be the last daytime race in Sepang, as race organisers Sepang International Circuit (SIC) is eager to stage their first ever night race as early as 2009, two years ahead of schedule… another kiasu rivalry against Singapore that are going to run the night race in September 2008.

Following the declaration, the local authority is now known as the Kuala Terengganu City Council, or Majlis Bandaraya Kuala Terengganu (MBKT). Datuk Mat Razali Kassim is appointed the first Kuala Terengganu’s mayor.

Here’s a challenge for you… name me the other 11 cities that have been granted the city status in Malaysia. I bet you can’t… I couldn’t. [Answer on Wikipedia]

Three paratroopers of the 10th Para Brigade drowned and five others were injured at about 10.30am when they parachuted into the sea off Kuala Muda after they were blown off course by strong winds when training for the opening of LIMA 2007.

My condolences to the victims’ family.

2007 has not been a good year for Malaysian soldiers; first the Nuri crash, now the paratroopers… 9 soldiers have lost their life from these 2 accidents.

FYI, Monsoon Cup is the last stage for this season’s World Match Racing Tour, a Grade 1 event recognized by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). Although sailing is not popular in Malaysia, the event is not as insignificant as some politicians claimed.

I can remember the criticism about organising F1 in Malaysia prior to the first race in Sepang, but organising the F1 race is probably one of the best decisions Malaysia has made in the 90s. The return is not just the financial gain during the race, but involves global branding which could help attracting foreign visitors (and probably investors) constantly.

The popularity of sailing is probably far behind motor racing, but it does attract a special niche of people, and the impact of the Monsoon Cup should not be taken lightly. Thousands of foreigners will be flocking to Terengganu, and the event will be covered by foreign press and shown in popular sport channels like Sky Sports, Eurosport and ESPN etc. It does put Malaysia on the global map for good reasons.

Is it worth spending RM300 million for Monsoon Cup?

The arguments however, are on the cost of organising the event, and how the money was spent. It’s said that the event would cost RM250-300 million, funded by Wang Ehsan i.e. the royalty from oil and gas for the state of Terengganu. [Read more from MP Kit and MP Ronnie]

RM300 million might be worthwhile investment for Monsoon Cup if the fund is spent at the right places, but the biggest problem with government funding issues is the lack of transparency… Malaysians are constantly kept in the dark on how the money was spent, thus speculation about possible corruption is inevitable.

- Does the RM300 mil involved the building of public infrastructure, or does most of it went into the pocket of the organizers and some rich and (in)famous?

- How the organiser is profiting from the event? Does the organiser have to face any financial risks running the event or that they are guaranteed to make money from the government funding?

- What’s the backing behind government’s decision to release the fund? Was personal relationship involved (hint: KJ, son-in-law of Badawi)? Was there any proper research to backup the proposal of organising the event?

Many questions will remain unanswered. Yes to Monsoon Cup… but nay to government’s fund management.

The games are part of Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka celebration.

Federer will play Sampras on Nov 22, while Nadal vs Gasquet on Nov 20; both matches will be held in Melawati Stadium, Shah Alam. The tickets’ price is ranged from RM83-RM443.

Here are some MIFC fireworks’ photos and links from various bloggers and netizens…

Italian on August 25 (Image courtesy of Kuanchong)

Heart shape firework… that’s cute (Image courtesy of Kiwi-bird)

Italian on August 25 (Image courtesy of KC Leong)

Australian on August 22 (Image courtesy of Englp)

(Image courtesy of Fattien)

More pics from Jason, Weng, David, Kenny, KC Leong, Budiman, Adrian, Alan, Lynn, Lzyan, Michelle, Ah Kwong, Anston, Nabil, Edmund, Idham and Eelynn.

Japanese is next on August 30 (midnight), check the rest of the schedule.

It sounds like a fun event… I am quite surprise that the organizer didn’t try harder to promote the show; perhaps they are focusing on foreign visitors instead. After all, the ticket isn’t cheap (RM38.50- RM181.50).

Amazing fireworks (Image from MIFC)

I don’t think I will want to buy the tickets; but I believe we can see the fireworks from distance… so I will be going to Putrajaya for one of the show. The schedule of the show according to MIFC’s website…

August 18 – Team Malaysia (Opening Ceremony)
August 19 – Team Global
August 22 – Team Australia
August 24 – Team Global
August 25 – Team Italy
August 30 – Team Japan
August 31 – Team Global
September 1 – Team Global
September 2 – Global/Pyrofest Canada (Grand Finale)

Update August 19 – seems like MIFC is doing better than I thought. Bernama reported that 100,000 people were in Putrajaya to see the show.

Before the show started (Image courtesy of MeiQ; she worked at the event)

Showgirls for MSI (left) and Samsung (Image courtesy of Ah Kwong)

Showgirls for Epson (left) and Acer (Image courtesy of Anston)

(Image courtesy of Anthony)

(Image courtesy of Fattien)

More pictures and coverage from Ah Kwong, Anston, Anthony, Fattien, MeiQ and Neo.

I have thought of going to the event, and was surprise by the amateurish standard of MIA’s website (the website is completely gone as of Feb 2, 2008) when I first visited it a couple of weeks ago. I have a bad feeling that the show is not going to meet its expectation and have given up my thought of visiting the show… but seems like the situation is worse than what I anticipated.

I pity those foreigners that have make the arrangement to visit Malaysia and the event at this period… hope that they are not too disappointed and can still find something interesting in Kuala Lumpur without the show.

Publicity

I have read an article from a foreign journalist about his (I assumed) experience in KL… he mentioned that he saw lots of billboards everywhere in the city, but saw nothing about the Asian Cup; he had a feeling that he was at the wrong city for the games… I guess some Malaysians shared the same sentiment too, I know I do.

I can’t recall the organizer taking aggressive methods in pulling the crowd and selling the tickets, or to promote the event. I felt that the Malaysian organizers are taking the event too lightly… for goodness sake, it is one of the largest sporting event in Asia, the world (or at least lots of Asians) are watching the competition; it is a good chance to show how good we are in hosting a major sporting event, or how bad instead.

The Crowd

I think there was around 30,000 people in the stadium watching the game; not really a proud figure (couldn’t fill half of the stadium), but still better than what I expected.

Most of the crowd were well behaved, kudos for that… there were some crooks who threw water bottles to the field though, luckily no one was hurt.

One thing that I think Malaysians need to learn is to respect other’s national anthem. It’s fine to jeer, boo or even curse the opponent during the match… but when a national anthem is played, we should at least have the courtesy to keep quiet.

The Match

Malaysia is thrashed, as expected. I was hoping that they could keep the deficit to 2 goals, but our national team ended losing 1-5 instead. I am not too disappointed though… I kinda accepted the fact that Malaysian football is in a pathetic stage in recent years.

Most of the other fans didn’t share my thinking obviously… there was a point that some Malaysian supporters chanted “China, China” and cheered for the opposition instead. You could imagine how frustrated they were with our players to push them into supporting the opposition.

Luckily we managed to get a consolation goal, the crowd celebrated as if we won the match… Malaysians are easily pleased aren’t we?

[Visit my personal blog to see some photos (14 images) of the event and other extras]

The AFC Asian Cup 2007 has kicked off! This is probably the first ever major sporting event around the world to be co-hosted by 4 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam)… the first match in Malaysia will be held on Tuesday (July 10) at Bukit Jalil Stadium, with Malaysia playing against China.

I felt that the publicity for the event is quite poor in Malaysia; I don’t see many banners around the city, and I don’t see many advertisements about the tournament on TV or newspapers. Hopefully the stadium won’t be too empty during the matches.

Below is the schedule of the matches (in Malaysia)…

July 10 (2035) – Malaysia vs China (Bukit Jalil)
July 11 (1820) – Iran vs Uzbekistan (Bukit Jalil)
July 14 (1820) – Malaysia vs Uzbekistan (Bukit Jalil)
July 15 (1820) – China vs Iran (Bukit Jalil)
July 18 (2035) – Malaysia vs Iran (Bukit Jalil)
July 18 (2035) – China vs Uzbekistan (Shah Alam)

July 22 (1820) – Quarter final (Bukit Jalil)
July 25 (1820) – Semi final (Bukit Jalil)

Try going for a game a two if possible and show some support for our team and to show our hospitality as a host for the game.