KUALA LUMPUR: Sports Commissioner Suhardi Alias has urged Kuala Lumpur Cycling Association (KLCA) to resolve any issues they are facing internally and only escalate them for mediation if there is a stalemate.
KLCA held a committee meeting yesterday to decide whether to accept or reject a resignation letter from its president Datuk Razlan Razali dated March 16.
Razlan on Saturday expressed his willingness to continue helming the association, stating that his decision to resign was made in the heat of the moment following a fiery discussion with KLCA's committee members regarding various issues they are facing.
The committee yesterday voted 8-1 in favour of accepting Razlan's resignation and agreed that deputy president Firdaus Arshad moves into an acting president role.
Question marks were, however, raised by Razlan's camp as three committee members appointed by Razlan were not allowed into the meeting and thus were unable to vote to reject his resignation.
Their absence was claimed to have swayed the outcome of the voting process.
Firdaus yesterday said that the committee had unanimously voted to reject the three committee members appointed by Razlan.
Suhardi said KLCA must refer to their constitution for a solution.
"The first step is to refer to the provisions in their constitution to determine what direction they should take," said Suhardi when contacted today.
"In general, when a president resigns, a special meeting must be held to decide whether to accept the resignation or not.
"If the meeting is unable to produce a clear decision, the committee must then issue a notice calling for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
"The validity of the president's position must then be decided during the EGM via a voting process. The mandate given during the EGM is final.
"I advise KLCA to try their best to resolve this issue internally according to their constitution before bringing this issue up higher to either the Malaysia National Cycling Federation or the Sports Commissioner's Office for mediation."
Razlan, who won uncontested during the KLCA annual general meeting on Feb 25, resigned due to frustration with certain committee members whom he claimed were unwilling to address issues being faced by KLCA with urgency.
Parents of former riders of KLCA had alleged that issues involving racism, breach of trust and misuse of funds received from the Federal Territories Sports Council (FTSC) had occurred within the association in recent years.
The parents also expressed their frustration with the association for not giving them a satisfactory explanation or room for discussion.
Firdaus and KLCA head coach Datuk Ng Joo Ngan have categorically denied the allegations.