Silent Lonesome Man

On 20 February 2022, in the tourist islands-nation Maldives, two women's teams, both are less known to the world, marched into the pitch of Rasmee Dhandu Stadium in the capital Malé. That was no normal match however. It was a historic debut of the women's team of Saudi Arabia, the Middle Eastern Kingdom known for being strict and repressive toward women for decades. The opponents, Seychelles, is also a pretty less known African team, both in men's and women's level. In the end, the conservative met the unknown, and Saudi Arabia triumphed 2-0, courtesies by a corner kick strike from Al-Bandari Mubarak before Mariam Al-Tamimi doubled the lead. These ladies were the first-ever scorers for Saudi Arabia. 16 players were granted their historic debuts. Pelé, the greatest statue of international football, offered a congratulation on Twitter . When you get the congratulations from the Brazilian legend, it is certain that the country has won certification. Yet as CNN pointed out ...

When Cambodia was announced as host of the 2023 Southeast Asian Games (potentially moved to 2025 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the first thing Cambodia wanted to do was to build a massive stadium that must rival some of the world's finest. It is not a secret that the Cambodian government announced that the new stadium, replacing the outdated Phnom Penh Olympics Stadium, have to reflect the prideful past. In the end, a Chinese firm won and built the stadium. With 75,000 capacity, it has already become the largest stadium in mainland Southeast Asia, surpassing even Thailand's Rajamangala that holds only 50,000. For relatively 15 million people with a quite low-income economy, the building of this stadium was enormous both by cost and by personnel. More than 500 people were involved in the projects, with the Chinese nearly 350; while thousands of workers worked days and nights; the Chinese designation was to be an expression of long, ancient Sino-Cambodian relations. An even smal...

When the conflict in Gaza broke out, it appeared that most Arab countries would state solidarity with Palestinian people, in line with the majority of the Muslim world. Yes, it is. The Arab states have to love, defend and respect Palestine, no? Well, if you're not a Palestinian, nor even an Arab who have insight about the Arab states, then it will be a problem. Actually, the reaction between Arab nations do not show any sight about unity - it is rather, a conflicted, if not saying deeply sectarian situation among the Arab states. But why Arab countries are unable to find a common solution? And how does it affect its status? Palestinians burning portrait of UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2018. Unfortunately, relations between the Palestinians and other Arab nations are not so wealthy. There is a deep disgust and resentment against the other Arab entities from the Palestinians, a tribute to the infamous Arab-Israeli War of 1947. Before Israel became a nation like today, t...

  Myanmar, or you can say, Burma, is a country of every reflection on the mind of the people. Historically, the country is unique. And even in the modern era, it is still unique. It appears to be everything in your minds, like how I watched the movie "Beyond Rangoon". But it is also a story where power brought them might, and yet power also brought Myanmar, into tragedy... just like the current coup and protests... Glory of an imperial state History of Burma began with the migration of people from the mountains of Tibet and today's Yunnan to the plateau of Irrawaddy river. They first came to Burma in 11,000 BC, but it only became a civilisation from 2nd century BC onward. They established a series of city-states called Pyu, and ruled independently, not an organised structure. Because these city-states maintained limited contact outside between themselves, China and India, historian disagreed on how to interpret the Pyu-states' histories, as they all developed for them...