By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, May 20: Sarawak Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Hamzah, viewed that Malaysia’s poor performance in the recent SEA Games in Cambodia is related to poor management and politics in sports
Abdul Karim lamented that this had caused many problems, and those who were not supposed to have a position in the sports associations and not supposed to manage were entrusted to do the job.
“I see that there is no need for those in politics to be involved in sports. Let us only allow experts to do it and carry out their duties.
“Only then do we have that kind of hope for Malaysia to excel,” he said at a press conference after the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed Wushu Training and Competition Centre at the Sarawak Sports Complex at Petra Jaya, Kuching today.
Abdul Karim responded to a question by a reporter on Federal Minister of Sports Hannah Yeoh’s recent statement in a national news report that Malaysia’s poor performance at the SEA Games in Cambodia was due to the economy and political instability in the country.
When asked further whether the performance of athletes now was due to lack of incentives, Abdul Karim disagreed and said that most athletes look at standing on the podium and having a medal around their neck as their incentive and motivation to win.
He added that there is even a RM1 million incentive for every Olympic gold medal won, but no athlete in Malaysia has achieved it.
“So even if there is a ‘RM1 million carrot’ dangling in the air, we have yet to see our athletes achieve it. So I believe that it is not the money that motivates them,” said Abdul Karim.
Ministry permanent secretary Morshidi Frederick, Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak director Richard Tajan, and Sarawak Wushu Federation president Allen Wong and deputy president James Ting were present during the event. — DayakDaily
