If Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had glanced over the 70 vintage Proton Saga cars that competed in the MSF Saga Cup race he flagged off on March 17, he would have noticed all were carrying a sticker on the windscreen which read “Racers For AAM”.
That was the only chance the motorsports community had to project any semblance of a voice as its governing body, the 85-year old Automobile Association of Malaysia (AAM), was rather hastily deregisted by the Sports Commissioner’s Office. The deregistration meant AAM would no longer be allowed to sanction races, license competitors or any other activity involving motorsports.
The deregistration was only this week addressed when a pro tem committee made up of AAM affiliates was approved by the sports commissioner to carry out sanctioning on behalf and with the agreement of AAM — the only chance a number of racing series had in order to avoid cancellation.
Just how it came to this requires a view of chronological events. It began with AAM’s own internal issues with finances, which led to a controversial confrontation between members and the management committee in their 2017 annual general meeting. The members had opposed via a vote the management’s offer to resolve the association’s debts through the sale of assets. Thus, the AAM management committee had to devise a new restructuring exercise to manage its debts, including sums owed to disgruntled unpaid employees. To AAM’s credit, this was a transparent exercise, which evolved into sub-committees involving affiliates to revive the ailing organisation.
It has to be noted AAM is the only national sports association (NSA) that has operated independently, funded fully by members, affiliates and businesses, without government funding to carry out activities or development. Documentation leading to AAM’s deregistration raised eyebrows within the motorsports community, many voicing their discontent on social media.
Although Sports Commissioner Datuk Zaiton Othman was repeatedly quoted as saying that AAM had refused to cooperate despite show-cause letters and warnings, AAM chairman Tunku Mudzaffar Tunku Mustapha said only three letters related to the matter were received. He said AAM had met with Zaiton to resolve the issues, but efforts to meet Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman were futile.
AAM received a letter last August requesting information, following which they met Zaiton. A copy of a letter dated Sept 4, said to be confirmed by the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) as authentic, and signed by Syed Saddiq has been circulating within the community. In the letter, the minister stated the government’s recognition and backing of Motorsports Association of Malaysia (MAM) as the sole governing body for motorcycling in Malaysia. This is in clear breach of international sporting codes which strictly prohibit government interference in the governing of any sport. In this instance, Syed Saddiq was recognising MAM, which was set up by the ministry in 2007, leading to the first spate of international controversy related to this tussle for the governing rights for motorsports.
In 2007, then International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley intervened and brokered the AAM-MAM Agreement, in which AAM accepted MAM as its affiliate, with the latter from then on acting as the vehicle by which government funds were channelled for grassroots programmes organised by MAM. The MAM, from then on, received government funding annually for operations and activities. Mosley had stated then, in no instance would the FIA seek to hand over the governing rights to any other body, more so a government arm. Irked by that, AAM did not respond. The next document that arrived was a letter signed by Zaiton on Nov 30, notifying that AAM had been deregistered under Article 20 (1) of the Sports Development Act 1997 and it had 30 days to appeal to the youth and sports minister. AAM’s letters went unreplied. AAM then claimed it was instructed by Zaiton to announce the deregistration. AAM chose to stay silent.
On Jan 7, AAM received another letter, signed by Syed Saddiq, stating that AAM was no longer recognised as the governing body for motorcycling in Malaysia. This is again in breach of international codes, as the governing rights are given by FIM to affiliates and never by any government.
It was in mid-February that some interested parties triggered questions from the media to Zaiton about AAM’s status, and the deregistration became public knowledge via media reports. Based on the documents, it is a rather obvious move by the government to strike off AAM. Syed Saddiq’s prior notice to the FIM on Sept 4 shows evidence of that intent. At this point, with more questions than solutions, AAM can claim it was not granted due process before being deregistered.
It is unprecedented that a sports association has been deregistered in such haste. It lends credence to the belief that the Youth and Sports Ministry had “manoeuvred” this to replace the NGO that governs the sport with an agency (MAM) set up by the government — something the minister has to explain.
If there is any truth to the claims, Malaysia is under threat of international sanctions and for breach of the international sporting code shared by all sports under the Olympic charter.
That the AAM was deregistered on a technicality also raises the question of the sports commissioner's execution of the Sports Development Act, which for all intents and purposes, has always been corrective rather than punitive in spirit. There is a contradiction in the execution of duties when the Sports Development Act is meant to protect sports rather than cause a hindrance to its development.
If the Sports Development Act deems the technicality of failing to submit annual reports a more serious threat to the sport than cheating and mismanagement of government funds, then there is a serious need to question our laws or rename it the Registrar of Sports Associations Act.
The writer is a former NST sports journalist