There were faces of optimism. There were also those who attended the event with much scepticism.
Malaysia’s newly-minted Youth and Sports Minister, Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan, and her deputy, Adam Adli Abdul Halim, met 300 athletes and 100 representatives of sports bodies last week.
The series of closed-door townhalls were held on Dec 18, 22, and 23.
For the seasoned few, such engagement sessions, often held by ministers during their first few weeks in office, are not new.
The politicians, and the individuals who accompany them, all come with similar energy – showing plenty of zest and gusto in their early days – only to realise that youth and sports are a different ballgame altogether.
For starters, money, or the lack of it, as Yeoh and Adam Adli would already know by now, remains the biggest problem faced by most sports organisations in the country.
Sports bodies and industry players at the community level, meanwhile, continue to reel from the effects of the various lockdowns imposed at the height of Covid-19.
For the athletes, among the concerns include their welfare, well-being and life after sports.
The ministry, in a brief press statement issued earlier today, said: “The minister and deputy minister have taken the feedback into consideration and will meet with the relevant agencies to see how best to implement the suggestions, moving forward.”
The series of townhalls may have ticked the ‘to-do’ list of certain quarters, but those who attended agreed that the crowd was a mismatch that saw officials from grassroots associations to federations focusing on elite athletes, all under one roof.
The problems faced by these stakeholders are different and unique to each and every sports body.
Those who attended left the townhall wondering what’s next, despite numerous assurances in the past that the views aired will be heard.
“It would have been better if the minister engaged the stakeholders based on their sectors, like sports associations involved in the Olympics and Asian Games, associations whose only best achievement is at the SEA Games, and sports bodies that focused on the grassroots. These subsections have different needs and wants,” said a senior sports official who attended the townhall.
“Some of the stakeholders raised their concerns about the lack of funds, to which the minister told them that she was aware of the situation, but had wanted to hear views on other matters.
“The townhall perhaps, is a good way to meet the stakeholders, but moving forward, there needs to be a concrete plan. We have attended so many engagement sessions only to wonder what the outcomes are.”
Such frustrations are valid. Take the Podium Programme Enhancement Committee, for example. The committee, comprising senior administrators and former national athletes, was set up to look into the Podium Programme – a sports development structure model.
The findings of the committee were submitted to the then Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, in September 2020. Till today, the report has not been made public, nor have stakeholders, including the committee, been informed if the suggestions made would be implemented.
For the record, the committee had, among others, called for a forensic audit of the multi-million ringgit elite sports programme, and for athletes and coaches to contribute to the Employees Provident Fund to ensure that they have savings once they retired.
Many also wondered why such engagement sessions are often not open to all in the spirit of transparency.
Also, the concerns of stakeholders in the Klang Valley and Penang differ from those based in bigger states like Pahang, Sabah, and Sarawak – where facilities are not available state-wide, and the travelling time between one township to another takes hours.
What also needs to be answered is how the ministry, with its limited jurisdiction, can get all parties to play ball. For example, the ministry cannot be seen as interfering with sports associations that are affiliated with world federations.
And can Yeoh and Adam Adli get the buy-in from the Education Ministry to further promote sports and youth initiatives in schools?
Can Yeoh’s ministry compel local councils, which come under the state governments, to provide cheaper rental fees for their facilities?
It must be noted that private operators in Malaysia are registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia and obtain their business licences from the local authorities, and not the Youth and Sports Ministry. In short, Yeoh and Co. can’t tell them what to do.
And what is the game plan to champion the sports industry, en route to turning Malaysia into a sporting nation?
Perhaps Yeoh and Adam Adli should just take the time to study the previous reports compiled from the very many engagement sessions held in the past.
If that is too time-consuming, Yeoh could just head over to Kajang Prison and meet Datuk Seri Najib Razak to find out more about the rather comprehensive, but largely forgotten National Sports Policy 1988 that was introduced during the latter’s time as Youth and Sports minister.
Or perhaps, Yeoh’s press secretary, Rubin Khoo, could pass her a draft written by his late dad, the much-respected Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim, and Associate Professor Selina Khoo Phaik Lin, about Malaysian sports – how schools were nurseries which produced young talents, and why Malaysian sports is in its current state.
That itself would suffice for Yeoh and Adam Adli to truly understand what needs to be done, to move forward.
Main image: Youth and Sports Ministry, Malaysia
