Mixed feeling but it's a prayer answered after almost 13 years... (edited)

TODAY (13th March 2009)

Yeah, out of sudden the news broke that former Singapore idol Abbas Saad's lifeban, imposed on him in 1995, being lifted.

While yours truly is a strong advocate for against "that thing", I do admit that I have soft spot of this Lebanese-born Australian star who captured hearts (especially, those girls') of the thousands of those who thronged the National Stadium in the early 90s, as I still maintained that he was forced into circumstances then.

Abbas Saad - ex Singapore idol

In one of my earliest postings of BoLASEPaKO (below), I asked for the lifeban to be lifted after the FIFA had lifted the world-wide ban that allowed him to resume his footballing career in 1996.

(Warning: a lot of grammatical and spelling errors)

If we turned back the clock and FTS was in place then, no doubt about it, this man would be the first foreign-born player to don the red top of the national team with no objection (even Abbas himself pleaded if he could play for the national team then after winning the Malaysia Cup in 1994).

Good to see him back, Abbas..

(P.S: I would like to apologize for a mistake I made in my 1996's posting that I mentioned,"he (Abbas) was forced under circumstance to accept bribe to fix a match".

But a check with various sources [1, 2 and 3] and confirmed that Abbas, himself, never received any money and pulled out from the arrangement after three matches. On the whole, Abbas played a minor role. He was a first-time offender.

As such, I would like to offer my sincere apology to Mr Abbas Saad for the error I made - I'm SORRY.)