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By<\/em> By Johnson Fernandez:\u00a0It was a little past 1.0am when my wife called. \u201cAre you on your way home?\u201d she asked. \u201cYes, I am back,\u201d I replied. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t hear you,\u201d she said. `My wife does not sleep until she hears the main gate being opened and closed and the beep of the car\u2019s reverse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-malaysia"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nJohnson Fernandez:\u00a0<\/strong>It was a little past 1.0am when my wife called. \u201cAre you on your way home?\u201d she asked. \u201cYes, I am back,\u201d I replied. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t hear you,\u201d she said. `My wife does not sleep until she hears the main gate being opened and closed and the beep of the car\u2019s reverse sensor. When she knows I am safely in, she\u2019ll automatically knock off. Unbeknownst to her, I was parked about 100 metres away, as I usually do, whenever I return home late after Malaysia Cup matches or a Friday night out with the boys. I just want to be sure there were no trackers, before I enter the house. Cautious? Paranoia? Well, both. I have had death threats. Contracts actually, which were not unusual in our line of work. This particular story (there are others, which I shall get to later) is one of many reasons for that. It was in March of 2003 when I received a call from a contact in a State FA. This was a team I covered regularly in the M-League.
\n\u201cDo you have a minute? This is important,\u201d the caller said. \u201cYup, what\u2019s up?\u201d I replied, the rest of the conversation taking a dark turn. \u201cI just got out of a closed door meeting. I know you as a friend and I don\u2019t agree with the discussion regarding you.\u201d I waited. I suspected it was going to get more sinister. \u201cBe very, very careful. They had just put a contract out on you.\u201d When I asked who else was at the meeting, he rattled out a few names. I responded: \u201cYou mean the top man was there too?\u201d My contact replied: \u201cI am very sorry to tell you this, but it was his idea.\u201d I profusely thanked my contact for the heads-up. Now what, I thought. I was not about to change my style of writing, that the truth will always be told. I was not going to be intimidated. But I had a young family.
\nMy wife was a home-maker. My three children were teenagers \u2013 my sons were 17 and 16 and the youngest, a girl, was 13. Needless to say it was a sleepless night as I contemplated my next move. As I mentioned earlier, I was not going to compromise. I can\u2019t even recall if I ever discussed it with anyone, definitely not with my wife. My concern was the future of the family. If ever something was to happen to me, they needed to be on solid ground.
\nThe next day I made an appointment with my insurance agent. \u201cI want a life policy for RM1 million,\u201d I said to him. \u201cNo matter what happens to me, how it happened, why it happened\u2026if I am killed, I want my family to receive RM1 million. My wife should be the sole beneficiary. Work out the premium.\u201d
\nShocked at my hitherto unseen agitated state, he asked for the reason and I related the story to him, in strict confidence. Fifteen minutes later, after consulting with his bosses, the agent reverted with a figure and the deal was done.Well, I have lived to write this story.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Johnson-Fernandez-02-300x233.jpg\")
\nSo, what happened? Some months later, I bumped into my State FA contact and I did ask him. \u201cThough there were not many of us at the meeting, still there were one too many. If it had happened, someone would talk. As a politician, the boss had too much to lose. Too much of a risk,\u201d he explained.
\nI wish I still had the policy to authenticate this story. Only last year, I cleared all my old files, which included this lapsed policy certificate. However, my insurance agent was able to trace the approved application form for the policy. It would be pertinent to point out here that particular policy was for only one year.
\nI have learned to look into the rearview mirror at every turn I took. I used different routes to and from work. Became more aware of my surroundings, looking if there were loiters near my car when I was done with my pints.
\nNo, not because of this one incident. There were others. Several years earlier, there was another contract hanging over my head. And I know this because the \u201ccontract-holder\u201d himself told me about it.
\nI can\u2019t remember the year, except that my daughter had not been born yet. I had my two sons. So, it would have been sometime in 1988-1990., and the boys would have been two to four-years-old.
\nThis time was a State team official. I turned up one day for one of my many football assignments, and this person is there as well. He sees me, walks straight up to me and without even blinking he says, rather callously: \u201cGo and thank your wife and kids that you are alive today.
\nAnd he walks away from me but remains in the function hall. I was stumped. What was that all about, I thought to myself. Of course, I confronted him after the event and he tells me that he had me tailed for three days.
\nOn the day of the hit, or just before it was all supposed to go down, the \u201ccontract killers\u201d had called him to confirm the assignment. \u201cI asked them where you were. They told me you had just got into your car. I asked them if anyone was with you, and they replied a lady and two little kids also got into the car.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s when I called it off. I thought about your wife and children. If you had been alone, we wouldn\u2019t be having this conversation now,\u201d he said. It is strange though how that caustic relationship with that official matured into one of mutual respect. We remain very good friends today though. Occupational hazard
\nI could write about how a national hockey fullback, when I turned up while they were practising, sent a high ball in my direction because he didn\u2019t take too kindly to my description of his performance in a tournament.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Johnson-Fernandez-06-300x234.jpg\")
\nI heard the whistle of the wind in my left ear as I dodged the ball. The national coach saw what happened which resulted in practice being stopped and a dressing down for the fullback, all out of earshot (pun intended!) of course.
\nThe threats on my life didn\u2019t come only from this side of the Causeway. There was one from Singapore which I vividly recall. I was not amused that someone had given my home number to this person, who was a regular on the Malaysian golf circuit.
\nIt was about 3.30 in the morning when I was forced out of bed. When the phone rings at that time of the day, it\u2019s always chilling. You fear the worst. A death in the family, perhaps\u2026Then, I hear this unfamiliar, irritated voice booming at the other end of the line: \u201cHello, is this Johnson Fernandez of The Malay Mail?\u201d
\n\u201cYes, but who is this?\u201d I ask. He retorts: \u201cI am \u2026\u2026. (Name withheld). You don\u2019t simply implicate me in match fixing. You better watch what you write.\u201d
\nExcuse me, but I had not mentioned this sorry-excuse-for-a-golfer\u2019s name anywhere in any of my numerous reports on the bribery scourge that held Malaysian football by its jugular at that time.
\nBut, I had implicated a Singapore pro golfer who plays regularly on the Malaysian circuit as a \u201cfixer\u201d for infamous Singapore bookie Rajendran \u201cPaal\u201d Kurusamy. I had not mentioned names.
\nAs the Malay proverb goes \u201csiapa makan cili, dia rasa pedas\u201d.Or, the English equivalent: \u201cIf the hat fits, wear it\u201d.
\nEven after I had clarified that I had not mentioned anyone by name, especially given there was a large horde of Singapore golfers on the Malaysian and Asia-Pacific circuits, the ranting didn\u2019t stop.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t f..k with me. You don\u2019t know what I can do. Don\u2019t you dare step into Singapore. You will never return to Malaysia,\u201d he threatened. Sick and tired of the ranting of a lunatic, I just said \u201cF..k off\u201d, slammed down the phone and left the receiver off the hook. I needed my sleep. I was in and out of Singapore numerous times after that. Still here.
\nYes, we took the risks. We didn\u2019t write to please. We wrote as we saw it, we fashioned our thoughts without fear or favour.
\nWould I choose this profession again? Without a second thought!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"