Will the sports fraternity get a bigger slice of the economic pie?

A WEEK from today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be tabling a revised Budget 2023 which is expected to focus on easing the immediate financial burden of households and businesses.

The budget is obviously highly anticipated by the sports fraternity, considering the fact that the previous administration had approved a total budget of RM332mil, with RM154mil to be channelled to talent development, training programmes and equipment for sporting facilities.

From that RM154mil, RM50mil was to be allocated to the Podium Programme.

Historically, Anwar was a generous Finance Minister as far as the National Sports Council (NSC) are concerned.

His tenure in the 1990s coincided with the early stages of preparation ahead of the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998.

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, meanwhile, realises her ministry cannot be relying on the annual budget announcement.

As such she has held discussions with the Finance Ministry on the need for a formula or new ideas to secure funds for the National Sports Associations (NSAs).This view is shared by Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria.

“OCM have proposed for a long-term funding, with a four-year cycle based on the Olympics as opposed to today’s practice of relying on the annual budget announced by the government,” he had stated.

Norza has called for the creation of a Sports Unity Tax, where the private sector or individuals be given increased tax exemption or incentives as a way of enticing them to invest in sports.

“Since the budget for sports appears to be shrinking year by year, the Sports Unity Tax will reduce pressure on the government to allocate funding and instead create a model where all sectors – government and private – work closely for a sustainable sports industry.

“We need to acknowledge the fact that the days of the NSAs obtaining funding purely from the government alone are gone.

“We need the private sector to come on board in a big way, much like the Rakan Sukan (Partner-in-Sport) Programme initiated in 1993 by the ministry to encourage them to work not only in terms of the returns on investments but also as corporate social partners to the NSAs.”

Initiated by the NSC, the Rakan Sukan project came to fruition in 1994.

It was officially launched in 1995 in Muar by, of all people, Anwar, who was the Deputy Prime Minister at that time. In attendance were Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin as the Mentri Besar of Johor and Sports Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Othman, who helped revolutionise the whole concept of funding in an area long dependent on government handouts for survival.

The adoption of the various sports by corporate giants was a boon (Petronas-MABA, EON-BAM, SRAM-YTL, to name a few) although certain associations managed to somehow alienate their partners. It was agreed that the funds contributed by the corporate sector valued at RM18.5mil be used to finance sports development.

At that time, 27 companies made a five-year commitment with selected associations, agreeing to sponsor between RM200,000 and RM1mil annually strictly for sports development.

Unfortunately, several sports associations diverted funds to finance tournaments, send athletes for international competitions and exposure, or to pay for coaches’ salaries.

The Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU), now known as MAF, suffered the dubious distinction of becoming the first association to have their financial assistance suspended by their corporate benefactor, Resorts World Berhad, due to adverse media coverage.

Hannah may wish to revisit the idea of a similar partnership, but tailored for today’s needs and trends with a special committee comprising experts, set up to monitor the funding procedure.

The trick is to make sure the athletes enjoy a bigger slice of the economic pie. But clearly, it is not a piece of cake.