A BN team of upper and lower house members of Parliament exacted revenge during their second meeting with Malaysiakini staff in the YbsCanJump tournament yesterday.

ybscanjump bukit jalil 100612 The team of Deputy Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu and Hulu Selangor MP P Kamalanathan took the early lead with Saifuddin scoring two in a row.

Malaysiakini team clawed back, led by team captain and journalist Lee Long Hui, to a three-all draw.

But soon after, Saifuddin was replaced by his aide who fired the final shot to seal the win, avenging their 2-3 lost to Malaysiakini during the first YbsCanJump tournament in November last year.

The rematch was among three exhibition matches which the three BN Parliamentarians had to play. Amazingly, they won all three.

The YbsCanJump tournament was part of the TwtUpKami event at the National Stadium, which was geared towards youths on Twitter . In fact, the match involving Malaysiakini was organised through Twitter .

Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin was present during the first YBsCanJump tournament, but was absent yesterday.

Playing with injury

Team Malaysiakini manager Andrew Ong conceded that the YBs had upped their game for the rematch, and expressed hope that “their on-court tenacity is displayed in their legislative duties as well”.

In the end, he said, the match was meant to promote Malaysiakini’s brand and highlight the importance of press freedom among the youths.

“We also hope to eventually realign the perception of the YBs on press freedom, with hope that this will help them make better legislative decisions,” he added.

Met after the match, Gan said that despite nursing an injured collarbone, he found the match enjoyable and added that the YBs held the edge this time.

Saifuddin, the BN team's 42-year-old star player, was also cheery at their victory, vigorously shaking hands with people after the match.

He was also upbeat about the turnout at the event, as the area outside the Bukit Jalil stadium was fairly busy with a large youth crowd.

PM draws the LOLs

The TwtUpKami event, which featured a stage with musical performances, futsal and basketball matches, and various youth-run stalls was organised by social media agency Twitterjaya.

Organiser Mohd Fadzmel Mohd Fadzil emphasised the youth focus of the event, explaining that almost all of the 80 or so stalls there were operated by youths.

He also highlighted the multiracial requirements for the teams participating in the futsal and basketball games: “The mission is to get everyone together”.

NONE Asked if the event was a BN-organised one, owing to the attendance of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Mohd Fadzmel clarified that one point of the event was to “forget about politics”.

He had only gotten in touch with the Higher Education Ministry and the Youth and Sports Ministry for help in securing the venue, as deputy ministers Saifuddin and Gan were attending the basketball matches.

As for Najib’s presence, he explained that the prime minister had been invited through a Twitter campaign by TwtUpKami and its followers.

The premier also addressed the crowd on stage, highlighting among other things the need to learn the “youth language”, citing terms such as “LOL, TGIF and OMG” to the amusement of the crowd.

The event, which ran for 12 hours from 10am, was estimated to have had 4,000 people attend as of 5pm.