Abdul Rashid Yaakub has confirmed he will remain as the National Sports Council (NSC) director-general for another year.
Abdul Rashid turned 60 on April 1, and according to the Public Service Department, the compulsory retirement age for members in the public sector is “55/56/58, or 60 years, subject to the retirement age option selected by the member”.
However, the government can offer an extension, and Abdul Rashid has accepted that offer.
“Yes, my contract has been extended by another year,” Abdul Rashid told Twentytwo13 this afternoon.
Abdul Rashid replaced Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail on Nov 1, 2023. Ahmad Shapawi ended his tenure with the council on Sept 28 – his 60th birthday.
Twentytwo13 had been trying for the past two days to get clarification on Abdul Rashid’s status as the head of the agency under the Youth and Sports Ministry, but several top officials kept mum.
NSC oversees sporting programmes, mainly for elite athletes in Malaysia, with the biggest assignment this year being the upcoming Paris Olympics in July.
Prior to Ahmad Shapawi’s mandatory retirement, talks about who should lead NSC started in July last year, and several names were bandied about. They included Abdul Rashid, Arrifin Ghani, Jefri Ngadirin, and Datuk Stuart Ramalingam.
Arrifin, who served NSC for decades before being moved to the Sports Commissioner’s Office, returned to the council last year and was made deputy director-general (commercialisation and marketing). Jefri is the deputy director-general (sports development).
Stuart sits on the NSC board, is the project coordinator for the Road to Gold programme and is the chief executive officer of the Malaysia Football League. Any one of the three could replace Abdul Rashid next April.
