Malaysians punch above their weight.  It it not a  Napoleon complex or chip on your shoulder mentality.  It is who we are.  We are survivors.  We are overcomers.  We are fighters.  Come at us.  You’ll learn what we really are underneath our very real tolerances and kindness.

Like pretty much every nation in the world, we are a soccer mad country.  The national team hasn’t been good in recent years but under the coaching of a Korean manager – a culture very similar to ours – they have improved tremendously.  Recently, they shocked powerhouse South Korea by playing them to a 3-3 tie at the Asian Football Championship.  South Korea is one of the world’s best and can hold their own against any team, not just Asian ones.

In the 1980’s, however, the team was one of the best in Asia.  No small feat for semi-professional players.  They could beat pretty much any of the continent’s teams.  And even hang tough against elite European ones.  They wouldn’t win but they’d keep the game close – even against England and West Germany.

Their best ever player was Mokhtar Dahari – one of the all time leading scorers in world history.  He was so good that English First Division teams scouted him, an honor for someone from an obscure Third World country.  However, the backbone of those teams was a defender named Soh Chin Aun.  He was nicknamed Taukey which is translated as Boss.  When they played West Germany, he led the defense in a smart, controlled way to stymie the vaunted German attack.  That team was so good they qualified for the 1980 Olympics but didn’t participate because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

We are also arguably the only country in the world to wage a successful counterinsurgency against the Chinese funded Communists.  While force was involved, the campaign relied more on the principle of winning hearts and minds – the role of the moral and mental over physical components of conflict.  The human will and spirit is still formidable and can beat out any machine per Terminator or Battlestar Galactica – at least for now.

I played on my agency’s softball team.  My legs at that point were wobbly but I did make a diving catch in centerfield that made my colleagues think twice about stereotyping me any further than they already did.  I wore a shirt honoring our national team under my jersey.  It was yellow and black with a tiger on it – our national animal and with some of the words of our anthem “Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku” which means the earth is soaked with our blood.  

And just for kicks and giggles, there is a Malaysian domestic league team that has done well regionally.  They are like the Barcelona of their league.  They even made a music video with Snoop Dogg – you can YouTube it by searching for Johor Darul Tazim Champions.