SPORTS Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has her critics but it is an undeniable fact she has achieved a fair bit since assuming the post in 2004. The Olympic Council of Malaysia agrees and on Friday, Azalina was picked as the winner of the Women and Sport Award 2007. Azalina speaks to Timesport’s VIJESH RAI and CHRISTOPHER RAJ.
A: To maintain its continuity, we have the Women Sports Foundation (WSF) as the umbrella of the WIS. I think the National Sports Council (NSC) too has realised that women athletes are good medal prospects.
If you look at Australia and New Zealand, they focus on women athletes as much as they focus on men because of medals.
Malaysian women themselves are keen to participate in sports but there are grassroots issues and culture issues (to worry about). Maybe with more women achieving results, the objective of developing women athletes will be reached.
Q: Do you think Malaysia will be able to win a gold medal at the Olympics next year?
A: Looking at the standard of our badminton players, we have a great chance to win. As I am saying this to you, the other countries are already preparing very hard for the Olympics so we have to be prepared for that. Unfortunately, squash and bowling are not in the Olympics. These are sports we are strong in. Now, the only chance we have is badminton.
Our problem is having a good supply of top athletes. We will focus on certain sports for the Olympics but I believe it will be touch and go (Malaysia winning gold in Beijing).
If I had my way, many decisions about athletes will be different, but as you know, government interference is not allowed in national associations. We don’t have 100 per cent say.
In the case of FAM (Football Association of Malaysia), there has been a public outcry and the Cabinet is also very disappointed but if FAM does not want to change, then nothing in the world can change FAM, because we are not part of FAM.
Q: What should FAM do to revive football, and do you think they can do it?
A: The disappointment with football is there was no urgency and spirit in the players (in the Asian Cup).
People are asking what is wrong with them. They were representing Malaysia They should have played with more pride. The Indonesian media praised their team despite losing, because there was fighting spirit. With the funding and support that the government is giving, this shouldn’t be the case.
But I bet you FAM will have 1,000 reasons why they failed, and what really makes the public very disappointed is that no one is feeling guilty about losing, and that is what really hurts.
The public outcry shows that the public is really disgusted with football.
If you look at badminton and squash, they go down and they come up again. They win today, they lose tomorrow, but unfortunately football loses consistently.
But because of Fifa regulations, we can only support but can’t intervene and everyone says maybe football must be taken over 100 per cent by the government, maybe football should be run by strong personalities, good managers.
It’s all up to FAM. We are calling them for the Cabinet Committee meeting on July 31. We are trying to see how we can help them.
I don’t want to be in a position that the eight-core sports programme has to drop football.
Q: Millions are being spent by the government. How long do you see this continuing?
A: If the rating system is accepted well, and if associations and the public understand that, I think the whole idea of subsidising associations will see a new phase in Malaysian sports and that is what we are hoping for.
Right now if you pull anything, it’s World War Three, but if you make them understand, when there is KPI (Key Performance Indicator), then I have achieved the objective. I would like see that in future, we only communicate with those who are high up in results.
Q: How do you see the NSC and the NSI, now that they are separated?
A: I think it’s getting better, I am very excited about the rating system, I really want the associations to perform. If you don’t perform, you shouldn’t be sponsored, This is what I believe in, and the rating system is the fairest system, I told the DG of NSC that you must put a stop to this mental subsidy.
Q: How is the relationship between (National Sports Council director general) Datuk Zolkples Embong and (National Sports Institute director general) Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz now ?
A: Well the reason I split them up is both have strong personalities and I felt that separating them would give us better results. Dr Ramlan’s knowledge on sports science and development is very good, and Datuk Zolkples is focusing on high performance sports. The NSC cannot be a jack-of-all-trades but the NSI can.
They may have different views on professional issues, but they are united.
Q: For the Korat Sea Games, the names of 1,000 athletes have been submitted. Only about 600 will be selected but that will still make it Malaysia’s biggest ever contingent. What is the target in Korat?
A: If I had my way, development athletes would be sent to the Sea Games. Malaysia may not finish among the top three, but these athletes will have the chance to compete and gain experience. But the associations disagree with that, and many want to send their best.
This is our problem. We also send the same athletes. We need more and the only way is by grooming them in events such as the Sea Games but the associations don’t agree.
It is the same with the Malaysia Games where we have the perennial problem of whether national athletes should be allowed to compete. We need a steady supply of athletes and the only way is by development and the Sea Games are meant for development. I am trying to change things but some are not popular.
For example, the rating system. I disagree that every national sport association should be subsidised by the government.
In countries like Australia, if you don’t perform, you don’t get the funds. We don’t do this in this country because of the political implications and sports expectations. The public is not with us if we do not want to support under performing sports associations. We want to tell associations that development has not been done, but they think they know better.
Q: You are the first woman sports minister, how is your journey so far?
A: We have started 537 community sport leagues and for three months every year, you have fantastic grassroots programmes taking place with unity the target. We decided not to build big stadiums anymore but smaller community complexes and that has been accepted.
Women in sports is also an accepted commitment now and as celebrate 50 years of Merdeka, our problem is we don’t have a sports culture anymore. We build complexes, shopping malls and other big things but developers don’t want to allocate half an acre for sports.
NST 22 July 2007
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