By Tony Mariadass
DR RAMLAN INJECTS GOOD HEALTH INTO MALAYSIAN SPORTS
IT is common knowledge that
if a person wants to survive being involved in Malaysian sports, he or she has
to play ‘sports politics’.
But not in the case of
Datuk Dr Ramlan Abd Aziz, who rose through the ranks to become a leading
authority in sports medicine and sports science technology, a no-nonsense officer
in the anti-doping community of practitioners in Malaysia and a sports
administrator, and all this in his 32 years of service.
Dr Ramlan, on
turning 60 on April 21, retired.
Looking back
his career was met with many challenges including deceit and disappointments,
non-appreciation of his work and being bumped around.
But there were also the
pleasing moments mostly at the grassroots of athletes, honest sports officials
and loyal staff, all of whom shower him with accolades.
A down to earth person with
no airs although he held some important portfolios, Dr Ramlan always had time
and never failed to listen to anyone who approached him for any reason
whatsoever.
Although a true
blue medical man, administration was not his forte, although he tried his best
and managed. Knowing his limitations in this area, Dr Ramlan readily
brought in people who were experts to assist him, but sadly many undermined him
and made him look bad.
That was Dr
Ramlan – he trusted people explicitly and gave them space to work independently
and listened to their advice - which was more often than not abused by these
people.
But despite led
down the wrong path by his trusted lieutenants, the good doctor never once had
a bad thing to say about any of them. His nice-guy persona was used
against him by many.
However, his
medical skills did not go unnoticed and he stood out to be a recognised and
respected figure regionally and internationally.
Dr Ramlan sits on various
international and national committees like the Health and Safety Committee of
the International Hockey Federation (FIH), the Medical and Sports Science
Committee of the Asian Paralympic Council (APC), the Therapeutic Use Exemption
Sub-Committee of the FIH and the Medical and Anti-Doping Committee of the
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).
He was a member
of the Health Ministry of Malaysia’s Specialisation Committee for Sports
Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine that vets and approves applications for
specialist recognition from appropriately qualified and gazetted doctors in
Malaysia.
There were numerous
occasions when attempts were made to discredit him or shuffle him around by
many who were envious of him or had their own agenda, but never once did Dr
Ramlan use his ‘connections or people in power’ whom he knew well (ministers
included) and some were close relatives, to get even with his 'unseen enemies'.
Once asked why he did not
want to use his ‘connections’, he simply replied: “I want to be recognised on
merit and not try to stay in any position using my 'so called' connections.
“If people want
my position, let them have it. I can still contribute in many ways to sports
which is always close to my heart.”
That is the true Dr Ramlan.
He is humble, honest and humility is his virtue.
His father may have been
just a baber but the way his wife and himself brought up Ramlan, has everything
to do with the kind of person he is today.
Dr Ramlan, the eldest in a family of five, many may not
know, is an accomplished musician too and it runs in the family. He plays the
guitar and drums. His brother is famous music
composer Roslan Aziz.
Dr Ramlan, still has a band comprising
his fellow students of MCKK (he is the oldest member in the band), who on rare
occasions make appearances at The Malay
College, Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) functions and jam
nights.
In
writing his profile at the end of his career, Dr Ramlan said: “It hit me at the
end ... how much that I had done. Certainly it wasn’t all good or the best of
me at all points ... but it just left me with a sense of - did I do all that
... and how did I find the time and energy to do those things.?"
The well-read and articulate doctor
went on: “I don’t worry about being forgotten for my own sake, but at least for
my family, whom I had neglected quite often at various points along the way ...
just to get some sense that all missed, love and comfort, was not in vain.”
Dr Ramlan is married to Datin Dr
Nasibah Mohamad Ali and the couple have five children - Zaira (Rehab and Wellness Clinic
Manager, Sports Science graduate UM), Dr Madiha (English Literature PhD Adelaide, UIAM
Lecturer), Dr
Abdul Muiz (Ipoh Hospital), Fariha
(lawyer) and Adeeba (Biochemistry UPM) and a granddaughter, Lily Sarah Fidzuan
(23 months, born to Madiha)
Dr
Ramlan was born in Kuala Lumpur and had his early education at SRJK (English)
Jalan Padang Tembak and went on to join MCKK.
He
started his medical career in 1988 as a young government officer.
After
graduating from the National University of Malaysia (UKM) in 1987, he did his
housemanship at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital (same hospital he was born),
before a brief stint as Medical Officer at the same hospital’s Outpatient
Department. On being transferred to the Kuantan General Hospital, he gathered
invaluable experience for nearly a year in the Anesthesiology Department until
1990 when he left the Ministry of Health to join the National Sports Council of
Malaysia (NSC) as a Sports Medical Officer on 10th May, 1990.
His long and
illustrious career in sports medicine is underlined by his being at six
Olympics with the Malaysian team - from Barcelona 1992 to London 2012 -
five of which he served as Chief Medical Officer.
Another
highlight was his sixteen-year tenure as team doctor with Malaysia’s hockey
teams, starting with the National Junior men’s team in 1991, which culminated
in the Junior Men’s World Cup in Barcelona, Spain in 1993 where he worked with
highly experienced Malaysian coach, C. Paramalingam.
He was soon leading a
double life as the team doctor of the men's senior team as well, having had a
brief stint at the Beijing Asian Games 1990. He resumed his involvement with
the senior team for the Barcelona Olympics, initially working with Australian
coach Terry Walsh and then a succession of renowned coaches such as Germans
Volker Knapp and Paul Lissek, and finally with Malaysia's Stephen Van Huizen
until February 2006.
He was
appointed Director General of the NSC in July 2005 by then Sports Minister
Datuk Seri Azalina Othman.
As if all that was not
enough, Dr Ramlan also found time to serve as team doctor for the national
badminton squad, working with elite players such as Datuk Wira Lee Chong Wei
and Wong Choong Hann among many others and with renowned coaches Datuk Misbun
Sidek, Denmark's Morten Frost, Han Jian of China, South Korean Park Joo Bong
and Indonesia's Rexy Mainaky. He was deeply involved in the medical care and
high performance scientific service management for the badminton squad with
regular stints at the Thomas Cup and other world badminton tournaments from
1996 to 2006.
He was also involved in the
rise of several sports while leading ISN, working closely with world-class
coaches John Beasley of Australia in track cycling, China's Yang Zhuliang in
diving and other coaches in paralympic athletics, archery, karate-do and taekwondo.
He never neglects the so-called smaller sports as he firmly believes in helping
those who believe in sports science as a way of garnering meaningful and
sustainable progress.
He led the
Malaysian medical team to numerous regional games festivals like the Asian
Games, Commonwealth Games and the SEA (South-East Asian) Games which featured
not only his medical service but also leading teams of fellow doctors,
paramedics, physiotherapists and also sports scientists that included
psychologists, dietitians, physical conditioning experts and video analysts.
The pinnacle of
his career with the Malaysian Games Contingents came when he was given the
honour of leading the delegation as Chef-de-Mission at the SEA (South-East
Asian) Games in Laos 2009 and the Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, China 2010.
His
multi-disciplinary roles and responsibilities as a leader also saw him serve as
Director of the National Sports Institute (NSI) from 1996 to 2005, Director
General and later Chief Executive of the ISN from 2007 until 2016, advisor in
Sports Science and Medicine to the Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin between
2012 and 2013 and as the Director of the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia
(ADAMAS) at Sports Ministry for two years from 2017.
He had played a
pivotal role in establishing ADAMAS in 2007 and led its progress among his
other myriad of responsibilities, until 2015 when it became an independent
organisation within the Sports Ministry structure.
He returned to
ISN to resume his role as Senior Consultant Sports Physician in January, 2019,
until his retirement.
Although now
retired, Dr Ramlan has one more project on his hands – a book he is almost
finishing on Malaysia’s Olympians which will be unveiled before the Tokyo
Olympics.
Indeed, Dr
Ramlan has had a colourful career which he served with much distinction and
will be hard to be match by anyone.
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