''Malaysian Terrence Romeo'' Tem Zhen Jie hopeful to make name for himself in Pre-Qualifiers

KUALA LUMPUR (Malaysia) - The Philippines are a proud basketball nation that holds their star players to high regards. They hold their opponents to an even higher standard.

Therefore, when players earn the one-to-one comparison to a Philippines basketball star from Filipino fans, it should be taken as quite a compliment. Just like how the title of this highlight video of Tem Zhen Jie gloriously read, "The Malaysian Ricci Rivero?", comparing the Malaysian guard to collegiate Filipino star.

 

As a part of building up for the national team competitions this summer, potential Malaysia national team players had been playing in FilBasket, a professional basketball league in the Philippines, with the Malaysian-based team KL ASEEL. Among those players is the promising guard Tem Zhen Jie.

It took only his second game in the Philippines to put the fans on notice with a 19-point performance. When he dropped 20 points a few games later, Tem finally earned a highlight reel where he put in display an array of moves to shake free of his defender, get to the basket, or get into position for a pass.

His highlights from that breakout performance has already accumulated at least 120,000 views across Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube and that's only counting the posts on the league's official account. If you also take in consideration unofficial posts made by the likes of HoopJunkie (among others) that dubbed Tem as "Malaysian Terrence Romeo", it's not a stretch to say that Tem has really put his name on the map.

When the Gilas superstar Romeo himself drops an approval with a string of fire emojis, that's always a good sign of recognition.

 

"I was surprised to be called Malaysian Terrence Romeo and Ricci Rivero because they are very impressive and famous basketball players in the Philippines," said the youngster.

It's needless to say that Tem has also stepped up to be a very impressive player by his own accounts as well.

To those who follow Malaysia basketball closely, Tem's recent play might not come as much of a surprise. The 5'10" (1.77M) guard had actually started to breakout back in 2019, playing for the Kuala Lumpur Dragons in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). In his very first game, he even matched up with (and even got the better of) a personal hero of his in Chinese Taipei legend, Lin Chih-Chieh.

 

After a string of strong performances here and there, Tem built up momentum towards making a national team debut. When the global pandemic hit, it meant that first appearance had to be put on hold.

Now with some big competitions coming up this summer, mainly the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, Tem's chance might be here.

"I'm feeling excited because this [would be] my first time being a national team player," Tem said. He's been shortlisted for the squad that will be playing in the Pre-Qualifiers as well as the Southeast Asian Games and seems like a lock to make the final roster at this point.

"I feel proud."

The point guard can be flashy and has a flair for showmanship, which is how he earned the comparisons mentioned above, but he also sees the big picture as well. He knows that there are still areas in the game where he and the team have to improve heading into the Pre-Qualifiers.

Tem mentions the need to be stronger on defense and to strengthen the basic skills within the team, but throughout the process of sharpening those rough edges, Tem also mentions how the team has gotten stronger.

"Teamwork."

Leading up to the Pre-Qualifiers, Tem and Malaysia will have already spent a couple of months with each other, building up the chemistry that successful teams need to strive on the court. That is one of the key qualities that Malaysia will be relying on when they go up against some tough competition in Group D.

Malaysia played against Thailand twice in the previous Pre-Qualifiers, with Thailand winning both contests. However, Tem was not yet a part of that squad.

"This would be my first time against Thailand," said Tem. "Thailand are also a very great team. I believe that in this game, I can learn a lot from them."

Another opponent in the group is Vietnam, who have quietly been building up a solid national team program. They should be a good challenge for Tem and Malaysia put to the test.

"I’ve only against them once so far," Tem said of Vietnam. "I’m looking forward to play with them again."

Aside from the usual Southeast Asian rivals, Malaysia will be set to face Mongolia, who have also made an impression on Tem in the past playing in the FIBA 3x3 circles.

"Mongolia are very strong and buff, which is also very impressive to me, he laughed. "I'm so happy to meet them again.:

With some exciting clashes ahead, Tem Zhen Jie is ready and hopeful to make his debut. Once he takes the court, he'll be ready to upgrade from the labels of being "Malaysia's Ricci Rivero" or "Malaysia's Terrence Romeo" to be the one and only Tem Zhen Jie.

FIBA