THE Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) should find new financial resources to fund sports development and maintain athletes that were dropped from the National Sports Council (NSC) training programmes for this year, Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim said.

The former deputy youth and sports minister said that during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, KBS managed to get the cabinet’s approval to channel RM30 million from sugar tax revenue for sports development.

“Under the administration of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and now the Barisan Nasional-Perikatan Nasional (BN-PN) coalition, the gambling special draw has been increased from eight to 22 times.

“Therefore, the gambling tax (gaming tax) which is partly channelled to sports development should also be increased. This can at least generate RM50-RM100 million for sports development,” he said in a statement today. 

Sim was commenting on the NSC’s recent announcement that only 248 truly eligible regular athletes and 45 para-athletes would be retained for full-time training programmes, compared to over 400 athletes and 114 para-athletes trained under NSC previously. 

As for back-up athletes, 178 regular athletes and 22 para-athletes were retained. Last year, 260 regular back-up athletes were on the list while there wasn’t such a list for para-athletes.

The DAP lawmaker said that NSC director-general Ahmad Shapawi has come forward to explain that not only 144 athletes have been dropped from the national sports training programmes, but the actual number of athletes who have been sacked is 253.

“This does not include athletes who experienced sudden allowance cuts such as national track and field athlete Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian who claimed that his training allowance was cut from RM2,000 a month to only RM800 a month.

“The issue is the failure of the minister of youth and sports (Reezal Merican Naina Merican) to obtain sufficient allocations before the mass dismissal of the country’s athletes.”

Sim said that he had warned in Parliament last year that there would be major problems due to such a sharp reduction in sports allocation.

“The minister of youth and sports apparently took this issue lightly.  I once again urge the minister to take immediate action before the country’s sports sector becomes completely paralysed, thus destroying all the efforts of our athletes, coaches and sports officials over the years.”

He said among some of the measures the government can take is introducing corporate tax relief for athlete sponsorship, sports events and sports development in general to encourage financial contributions from the private sector.  

“I have raised this proposal several times in Parliament since Budget 2021.

“KBS should also further expand the TRACK programme introduced during the PH administration under the NSC to place athletes to work flexi-hours in private companies and government-linked companies (GLCs).  

“This can not only increase the income of athletes, but also provide a second career platform for them.”

Sim said the MACE (Malaysia Athletes Career and Education) programmes should be strengthened to create a better sports career and post-career ecosystem for athletes. 

“Any termination of an athlete’s contract should be negotiated fairly, the athlete should be given appropriate transition time, and offered reasonable educational opportunities or post-career sports employment.

“KBS should increase the capacity of the National Athlete Welfare Foundation (Yakeb) to ensure that all former national athletes receive protection under the Yakeb welfare programme.  

“I propose that an additional allocation of RM5 million be channelled to Yakeb for that purpose.”

Sim said that KBS and national sports associations need to implement prudent spending strategies, such as savings through open tenders, and to stop the culture of financing “sports holidays” for officials whether ministerial officials, civil servants or sports association officials on the pretext of “escorting” athletes to overseas games.  

“Restrict the entourage to officials related to the games and athletes directly only. During the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, there was an incident of our shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli failing to arrive early at the waiting area which resulted in him missing out on a gold medal despite setting a new tournament record.

“KBS should encourage the development of professional sports clubs that are able to dig out sports talent as well as attract private investment.”

He added that during the PH administration, KBS managed to get BAM’s approval to allow professional players to compete on behalf of the country.  

“This allows some national players to become privately funded professional players and at the same time be given the opportunity to represent the country at international games.  

“This professional sports club system has produced excellent performance in other countries, especially in sports such as football, badminton, basketball and so on.” – January 8, 2022.