WHEN Datuk Azalina Othman Said became the Sports Minister four years ago, there was a wind of change.
After all, she was the first woman to hold the post – what could be a bigger change than that? – and the taekwondo exponent was enthusiastic.
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Getting down to work: Newly appointed Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob at his new office on Friday. |
She rang in so many changes that one could be forgiven for not being able to keep count.
That, however, has been the constant. Changes have been the hallmark of all our Sports Ministers.
The country has had 14 Sports Ministers in the last 44 years – that’s dating back to 1964. And each came in with a new broom and a new “magic” wand, each with his or her own priorities.
Azalina came up with the Sports for All policy, which was to cater to everyone from the district to stage levels. She also pushed for the setting up of the multi-million ringgit High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) in Brickendonbury, London. That has been shot down.
Datuk Anuar Musa (1990-1993) concentrated on the bid to host the 1998 Commonwealth Games; Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman (1993-1995) launched a massive “Rakan Sukan” (Sports Partners) programme; Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (1995-1999) devoted his time on incentives for athletes; Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein (1999-2004) spent millions on promoting X-Games.
The bright spot, though, came during the tenure of Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak from 1986-1990.
He clearly spelt out the direction Malaysian sport should take when he came out with the National Sports Policy (NSP). He also oversaw Malaysia’s biggest success at the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Sadly, though, the NSP has over the past 20 years been just that – a policy.
Azalina did initiate a review of the NSP in 2006 but it has been collecting dust the last two years.
Now, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob has stepped into the job, taking over from Azalina.
And the Malaysian Association of Physical Education, Sports Science and Fitness (PPJSKM) president Datuk Dr Leonard De Vries’ hopes that interest in the policy will be revived by the new man at the helm.
“The PPJSKM are extremely concerned that the sports community will be in for another round of new projects and change.
“This appears to be the trend in sport, whenever there is a change in leadership,” said De Vries, who was part of the team tasked with reviewing the NSP.
“I will always respect Azalina for initiating it (the review of the NSP). The document is ready. Now, the stakeholders and the sports community must be given the opportunity to read, comment and give suggestions.
“The NSP should be refined after the people have reviewed it.”
And then it must be approved by the Cabinet – and an NSP secretariat established for implementation, monitoring, review and change.
This will not only give the new Minister an idea of which direction to take but also serve as a guide for future Sports Ministers.
“In a nutshell, the NSP document provides a framework for Malaysian sports – its continuity and future development – until 2012.”
De Vries said that this would ensure that Ministers do not just come in and decide on multi-million ringgit projects at their whims and fancies.
He explained that the NSP also had provisions for the gazetting of sports lungs so that Malaysia would not continue to lose its fields.
“The NSP also includes legislation on sports facilities – to prevent sports complexes from becoming white elephants,” said De Vries.
“The NSP also spells out what the nation’s focus should be where high performance sports is concerned. There is more to the NSP.”
But what needs to be done now is for Ismail to come in, settle down and then take look at the NSP, study its content, understand its concept and expand its viability.
The new Minister would do well to make the NSP work for the long-term well-being of sports in the country.
It is hoped that Ismail would not do what most of his predecessors have done – come in, announce grand plans, usually short-term projects worth millions of ringgit, and, after all the hoopla, see them all just fizzle out.
Ismail is said to be a man receptive to ideas and open to opinions.
Hopefully, he will take to heart the views of the people who are genuinely passionate about Malaysian sports.
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