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Govt urged to reconsider RM1m offer for gold medal

by: V. Vasudevan, Eileen Ng, Joseph Sipalan, Irdiani Mohd Salleh and Ili Liyana Mokhtar

THE government has been urged to reconsider its RM1 million incentive for athletes who win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Raime Unggi (BN-Tenom) said this would only produce materialistic athletes who no longer strove to win medals for the sake of the country.

"The original intention of international sports meets, including the Olympics, is to produce athletes who bring glory to the country.

"But with the huge incentives being offered, athletes will no longer be doing it for the benefit of the country. The incentive will only produce materialistic athletes whose only purpose is to win because of the money. It is no longer for the love of country," he said during the debate on the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Raime said instead of cash, a better incentive would be to send promising athletes overseas for training.
Last week, the governnment announced that any athlete winning a gold medal will receive RM1 million while silver and bronze medallists will receive RM300,000 and RM100,000, respectively.

Raime criticised the government's plan to allow franchise holders like Starbucks, Kopitiam and Dunkin' Donuts to open outlets in university campuses.

"Moreover, these outlets are expensive. In all probability, the undergraduates will end up spending their scholarship money there."