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By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, July 11: Sarawak Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah opines that the National Sports Institute of Malaysia (NSI) should pay their athletes the agreed remuneration amount according to the contract signed between both parties.
He was referring to the case of former national Paralympic swimmer Julius Jaranding who alleged that he has not been paid his allowance totalling RM72,000 by the NSI.
Abdul Karim noted that NSI is a federal body and thus, the case does not come under the Sarawak government.
“I’m not too sure whether that the ‘unpaid allowances’ are genuine or not but if it is (true), those people in NSI should not treat athletes like that—those who are deserving of allowances must be paid allowances.
“If they (athletes) have signed the contract and were promised the remuneration or monthly allowance but they were not paid, this is wrong,” he told reporters at a press conference at the Baitulmakmur II Building here today.
Asked if he could assist the athlete, Abdul Karim said he would write a letter to NSI on the matter, provided that the Sarawakian athlete writes in to him first.
“We didn’t sign the contract with him. (But) if he comes to us, if he is a Sarawakian, of course we will make sure that his welfare is looked after,” he added.
Meanwhile, DayakDaily has relayed this development to Julius who stated that he would make the arrangements as requested, hoping to put an end to his four-year wait to receive the outstanding payment from NSI.
Julius, 37, a father of four from Kapit, represented the country in 2003 in swimming under the National Sports Council (MSN), and in 2016 until 2019, he was absorbed into the podium programme under NSI.
He said his last signed contract was with NSI for two years, 2018 and 2019, but he had only received the payment for 2018.
According to him, he did not received his allowances totalling RM72,000 for the period from Jan 1, 2019 to Dec 31, 2019 without any compensation, letter of contract termination or transfer of authority. — DayakDaily
