When respect and fair play are more important than popularity

HAVE you heard of an association called RESPECT? It’s formed recently and headed by none other than the country’s former national women’s hockey player Prof Datuk Dr S. Shamala.

It’s quite a mouthful – known as the Malaysian Association of Research Empowered Sports, Politics, Education, Communication and Technology but they are clear with their goals – to champion sports and leadership.

The idea behind this movement is fresh and noble but its formation did not come as a surprise as Shamala, the president, is known for her sincerity and ethics. And she also has solid credentials.

Besides being a former player, she has also served as a sports administrator (hockey and Olympic Council of Malaysia) for decades and is a respectable educator (currently professor at the computer science and IT faculty at Universiti Putra Malaysia).

There are many goals under RESPECT but one of them is to empower former athletes to be leaders, something sorely lacking in the Malaysian sports scene.

What we have now are several politicians or those who play politics and hold the top positions.

“Athletes are the ones who keep the sports alive. It will be ideal to have all athletes run all associations in top-notch standard but we don’t see this,” said Shamala.

“Athletes do well to represent the nation and they are adored but they struggle to run associations because of politics and this discourages many.

“Politics are there to stay but we can stand above it through resilience and relentless efforts. The opinion of every one matters.”

The objectives of RESPECT seem wholesome and it’s only right to salute their pursuit to make a change in Malaysian sports.

There is another place that needs due respect, and that is none other than our coaching sector.

Enough of our local coaches being treated as second class citizens.

Recently, the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) deputy president Kau Git Kaur made a plea for the salary scheme for local coaches to be reviewed.

Git Kaur, a former gymnast and a coach, used to earn RM2,000 as a coach in the early 1990s. And shockingly, the amount has not really changed much for our current crop of coaches.

And that’s probably one of the main reasons why nine former gymnasts led by Commonwealth Games champion Amy Kwan are now in Singapore as club coaches. They are earning salaries between RM15,000 and RM20,000.

It’s good that our gymnasts are valued abroad but isn’t it time for those selfless coaches serving at home to be given equal pay for the work they do?

Fortunately, the pulse on the ground is positive, at least with the National Sports Council (NSC) promising to discuss a new coaching salary scheme at their next board meeting this month.

And even Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has taken great interest in trying to solve this huge disparity in pay for local and foreign coaches.

Positive signs are indeed on the horizon.

And let’s also take our hats off to the Malaysia Basketball Association (Maba) for rewarding for their men and women’s national champions with an equal payout at the recent Agong Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Both winners from Negri Sembilan bagged RM18,000 each.

Now, that is equal respect for both genders.

In sports and in life really, it’s through the platform of respect and fairplay that many things can be achieved like peace, unity and kindness.

As stated by former American basketball legend Julius Erving: “I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity.’’

* The writer wishes Shamala and all those celebrating a Happy Deepavali. She also reminisces the good old days when she got to enjoy yummy food and great fellowship at friends’ homes in Nibong Tebal during the festive season.