The Youth and Sports Ministry is unable to reveal the cost of the recent trip to Japan involving several members of the Road to Gold programme committee.
This, according to the ministry’s secretary-general, Dr K. Nagulendran, is because the ministry is in the midst of tabling a paper to the Cabinet soon on the outcome and follow-ups from the trip, as well as the actual expenditure incurred.
“Since it’s going to the Cabinet, and until the paper is tabled, the information is classified,” said Nagulendran in an email, adding that once the paper has been tabled to the Cabinet, the ministry’s head of corporate communications will follow up on it.
Nagulendran was responding to Twentytwo13’s April 27 email regarding how much was spent on the trip to Japan involving several National Sports Council (NSC) board members who are also part of the Road to Gold committee.
The delegation was led by Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh. Others who joined the minister were Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, Road to Gold coordinator Stuart Michael Ramalingam, his assistant Michelle Chai, NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail, and National Sports Institute chief executive officer Ahmad Faedzal Ramli.
The programme, launched on March 12, is another elite programme to aid Malaysia in its quest to win the elusive Olympic gold medal.
The programme is said to be part of a “long-term roadmap” for the Paris 2024 and the Los Angeles 2028 Games.