Here is what I truly am upset about........Poor Pay Keeping Best Brains Away by Choi Tuck Wo
in today's Sunday Times.
http://www.the star.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/4/30/nation/14104822&sec=nation
How does this affect me? Well, in the Malaysian squash scene, most elite or high performance coaches are employed by the National Sports Council (NSC). Here lies the problem, they have a ceiling for local coaches and none for foreigners. If you are a local coach, your maximum salary in the country will be RM 2500 if you coach in the states. If you are attached to the national team, NSC will decide what would be the amount. This can range from RM 3000- RM 5000. So far I haven't heard of any local coaches going higher than RM 5000 in the NSC scheme. Also we do not have yearly increment nor bonuses based on performances. Even when it comes to renewing contracts, we are not given the opportunity to discuss options or increase in base salary. So where does it leave us? Same pay for as long as we work with them. I know some who are on RM 1500 for the last 4 years and they are excellent coaches.
Foreigners on the other hand starts with a minimum of USD 1000 with accommodation provided. Plus their annual balik kampung trip will be paid for as well. They will negotiate for a pay increase when it is time to renew their contracts and usually they will get it.
The irony is that these foreigners are no better than our locals, in fact some are worse. There has been a calling for all coaches to be qualified with the necessary qualifications but most of these foreign coaches in squash don't have any papers or qualifications. So what is the justification for their higher salary?
I cannot blame locals who shun going into coaching as they see no future in it. But some local coaches are to be blamed as well as they take no initiative to improve themselves. They refuse to upgrade their knowledge and learn the newest stuff to help improve the performance of their players. They give the good local coaches a bad name. But I still cannot help but get upset that these lazy or bad coaches are still around with no action being taken.
The good local coaches are still around because they really want to see the sport improve but a time will come and they will have to think of themselves and decide for their futures. Again Malaysia will lose the best brains. Tan Kim Her (badminton) and Lim Teong Kim (football) are prime examples.
How about me? Well, been fighting for better renumeration package for coaches for the last 4 years and every year i get the same answer..........wait, still in discussion. Time is running out on their side as I contemplate my future......my country or my personal good.
Cheers.
1 comment:
In fact i would say that, in the eyes of NSC, local coaches has always been the second class workers and the foreigner has always been the upper class workers. This is not only how NSC view the coaches but some of the parents as well. Let's talk abt JH and AC. Why does the standard like AC get payment of salary of USD2000 and all he does he teaching the Bkt Jalil boys and girls. Do you think with his experience and age he's capable of teaching? By the way there is even a joke about his experience in squash that SRAM really believe in his profile. In his profile, he said that he has 11 years of coaching experience but he's only 23 years old. Does this mean that he started to coach when he's 12 years old? As for JH, i believe that what he's doing do not need to get that type of salary. First of all what does he do? By only planning like what he is doing, need that kind of salary? Is it that the Malaysian is so useless that they cannot even management the game of squash and we need a foreigner to come and manage the sport for us? After all, who is the foreign coaches? They are just here to make a living. Once theirs contract expired, they will just go home. So do NSC think that they really come here to teach with their heart so the Malaysian can really go far enough to be the champion of the world or we are just fools in their eyes for making easy money and creation of double standard by NSC on the local and foreign coaches? Has anybody think of why local coaches who are willing to work fulltime can't easily be hired? Even if there is one who can teach but why is there nobody who wants to take up this job for long? The answer is simple, anyone who has commitment in their current live and also with the living standard that we have to go through today will only get poorer if the are taking up this job as a fulltime coach because the salary is not even enough to cover up the expenses. I think NSC really need to change on their perspective on local and foreign coaches and don't try to create a double standard among them. NSC should always remember that all fulltime coaches who is teaching at their respsctive states has once make a glory or scarifice their time for their own states. So do you think that the local coaches would do their job if they have no passion in it? If NSC would provide a better offer, I believe Malaysia can easily have a much better coaches who can commit to their states and country as their welfare has been fully taken care of. So until the day these point of view has not change then the story of double standard will never end.......
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