The good, bad and ugly
ATHLETES can count their blessings that every effort is being made by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and its agency, the National Sports Council (NSC), to continuously look into ways to help their welfare and make their involvement in sports worthwhile.
The most recent initiative is the announcement by the Sports Minister, Hannah Yeoh that the National Sports Council (NSC) is examining the possibility of the implementation of contributions such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) for athletes under the podium programme starting in January next year.
The decision was recently made by the NSC Board of Management after a review of the national athletes; training allowance scheme, with an emphasis on athlete well-being, being approved.
“This is a game changer because prior to this, there was no program implemented that would allow national athletes to receive EPF and Socso,” Hannah said when concluding the debate on the Supply Bill 2024 at the committee stage for the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) in the Dewan Rakyat this week.
Kudos also to NSC in the setting of the Malaysian Athlete Career and Education (MACE) with former national bowler Shalin Zulkifli heading the Career Unit MACE Secretariat.
MACE was set up to provide a platform to find ways and programmes to build the confidence of athletes that sports will provide education, career, and welfare.
And on Friday night, Hannah handed out RM2.8 million to 103 national athletes under the National Sports Incentive Scheme (Shakam). This scheme was started in 1986.
Then there is the Skim Hadiah Kemenangan Atlet Remaja (SHAKAR) – a reward scheme for youth athletes who compete in international events.
In 2009, the Yayasan Kebajikan Atlet Kebangsaan (YAKEB – National Athletes; Welfare Foundation) was established to address the medical needs of current and former athletes. There is also the Skim Kebajikan Atlet Kebangsaan (SKAK) which provides welfare services to a smaller extent for current athletes.
With all of these in place and continuous initiatives to improve the welfare of athletes, the latter should be able to concentrate on their performance free from other worries.
But at the same time, the administration should ensure that whatever funds are made available by the government are utilised in the right manner, prudently, and benefit the athletes by and large.
The proverb “money is a root of all evil” has reared its ugly head one too many times with the Ministry of Sports, NSC and national sports associations.
The most recent being the 2022 Auditor General’s Report this week revealing a total of RM681.71 million in public funds lost following the failure to implement six initiatives.
It revealed financial losses due to mismanagement of government activities ranging from padi planting, safe cities, and elite sports podium programmes, management of firearms, and marine conservation, as well as foreign workers.
Two programmes at the NSC level were detected as not making regular payments, namely the management of the elite sports podium program (RM1.47 million) and the management of the program to empower the capacity, abilities, and competitiveness of the construction industry (RM0.05 million).
Of course, there have been similar findings in earlier years; reports, and even a case of misappropriation of funds at the Ministry of Sports, with the officer charged and found guilty.
Embezzlement of funds by an official was even alleged at the national sports association level.
There has to be accountability at all levels, and trustworthy officials need to spearhead sports administration at all levels.
Sadly, there are sports officials who take office in the name of the love of sports and to serve, but have ulterior motives of self-promotion and making use of sports for their own benefit, and neglect sports and the athletes.
The Dewan Rakyat recently approved the estimated operating and development expenditure of RM1,124,555,600 allocated to the Ministry of Sports in the Budget 2024 and it is hoped that these funds are utilised in the right and continous tabs are conducted that all proceedings and spending are above board.
While athletes are continuously reminded that they have to give their best to bring honour to the nation, likewise, the administration should set good examples for the athletes to have trust in their guardians and perform.
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