Stop the fighting in associations, focus on competing in the arena

SPORTS is all about competing. But in our sports associations, it has gone a step further – it’s now more like a mad scrap for positions.

Who is right? Who is wrong? Who wants to be the president? Who needs to be booted out? Vote for me! Vote against them! Those are the cries that are going round.

This week alone, I’ve received emails and messages highlighting deep-rooted problems in several state and national associations ahead of their elections.

There have been police reports, court orders, suspensions and plenty of reports to the Sports Commissioner’s office.

One official said that when they brought up their problem to the Sports Dispute Committee set up by the Youth and Sports Ministry, they were told to wait in line – there was already a long litany of complaints ahead of them.

What is causing these delays? Or maybe a better question would be – why are there so many complaints?

Yesterday, the Selangor Table Tennis Association went to minister Hannah Yeoh’s office to submit a letter, protesting the recent election held by the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia (TTAM).

They claimed that it did not follow the correct processes and that the Sports Commissioner’s office has approved the appointment of the new officers without investigating their claims.

Then, there is the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF). The gymnasts are supposed to be preparing for the SEA Games in Thailand in December, but all we hear about is the unhappiness of several affiliates.

One official from the Kuala Lumpur Gymnastics Federation claimed wrongdoings and manipulations. He even said many do not even understand the constitution.

“The instability stems from poor leadership, persistent power struggles and poor governance, largely due to a lack of understanding and adherence to the federation’s own constitution, the Sports Development Act and relevant by-laws,” he said.

If not many understand the law, and are not even following it, what do we do? It’s like the bus drivers who speed – do we penalise the bus driver or change the rules? Or do we continue to turn a blind eye and see more deaths.

If nothing is done, the many genuine sports officials who want to make a difference in Malaysian sports will be turned off, and it will be too late to start all over again.

We will continue to lag behind as other nations zoom past us to the finish line.

Just look at Sunday’s Malaysian Athletics (MA) elections. The build-up was nothing short of a television drama filled with twists and turns.

Four candidates went for the president’s post and eventually Datuk Karim Ibrahim – who was president from 2015 to 2019 – was elected again.

Admitting to disunity in the association, Karim is pleading for all parties to consolidate and work together.

If only everyone had worked together before the election, we could have saved so much time.

And that precious time could have been used to find out why Malaysia, which once used be an athletics powerhouse in this region, only returned home with one bronze medal from the recent Asian Track and Field Championships in South Korea.

There is so much infighting going on; we continue to slump in the Asian region in many sports – and then we wonder why.

Very often, we blame the athletes for the lack of results but what about officials who are more busy planning and plotting their rise to the top and the downfall of their own comrades?

Today, Hannah will announce the new members of the Sports Dispute Committee.

We hope this committee will be able to look into the ailments in Malaysian sports and solve the problems in these associations without fear or favour.

Maybe then, I will start receiving more emails and messages from officials asking us to highlight the success of their athletes at the local and international level, not their own internal problems.