KUALA LUMPUR: Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) president Nik Razeen Daud wants the Sports Ministry and its agencies to be more transparent in regards to the budget allocation for sports next year.
Razeen said he and several other National Sports Associations, are unhappy following a briefing by the National Sports Council (NSC) on Thursday.
"I am disappointed about a few things. First of all, the Finance Minister (Lim Guan Eng) had announced at parliament (budget announcement) that RM100 million was to be allocated to prepare athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said Razeen on Friday.
“The Sports Minister (Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman) then gave the same impression via twitter.
"But when we were at the meeting yesterday many, if not all NSAs, were shocked when we were told the RM100 million was for everything, encompassing the NSC and the National Sports Institute’s administrative costs and sports programmes.
"If that is the case, so what is going to be left for Tokyo (preparation) and other sports? It is said that RM1 billion will be allocated to the ministry, if you minus RM110 million, including eSports, then what is happening to the RM890 million?”
Razeen stressed that transparency is the key if the ministry want to forge a successful working relationship with all NSAs.
"In this age of transparency they should tell us exactly what we have. For example 'this is the RM100 million and this is how we have apportioned it'.
"Although they have not confirmed it, I am sure they have already apportioned it to come up with the budget, so let's be honest and put it on the table.
"Be transparent, a little bit of integrity around the place is going to help a great deal. They (ministry) ask us and all the other NSAs to maintain a high standard of integrity, governance and transparency, yet I do not see it happening at the moment over there (ministry).
"I realise funding is short and we are prepared to make sacrifices. We are already looking at alternatives for funding but for us all to share the burden let's be honest. Don't let us find out later that you are not being honest, if there is no trust it cannot happen."
Razeen said he is also completely against the discontinuation of the State Sports High Performance Unit (USPTN), which focuses on developing high quality junior athletes at the state level.
"USPTN has been closed down, NSC sent a letter to squash and a few other sports, I know bowling got it, terminating the services of all USPTN coaches. Their contracts (coaches) will expire on Dec 31.
"Our USPTN coaches have developed players with talent t includes, among others, six British Junior Open champions. These coaches have been the key to talent production at the state level.
"The letter was sent to these coaches by email and no explanation was given as to why they were terminated. These are people who have served the country for decades, the sport is their livelihood and they are dumped just like that. It's a very inhumane way of doing things.
"This (discontinuation) has a huge impact because the states are the feeders of talent at the national level. This is something which NSC does not seem to be considering.
"I suppose now I have to take up eSquash to find support."
Saddiq has been a key proponent of eSports since he took the reins from former Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Razeen added that it was not a positive sign when none of the key decision makers in Malaysian sports attended the meeting.
"I am disappointed that the Sports Minister, Deputy Sports Minister (Steven Sim) and chief secretary (Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali) were not present.
"Only NSC director general (Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail) turned up and that was only for five minutes after which he apologised and said he had to rush to the airport.
"Come on, this is a fundamental change in the way Malaysian sports is being structured at the highest level and none of these people who are supposedly leading the way could be bothered to be there.
Jefri Ngadirin handled the meeting and I can’t blame him because obviously he was dumped with the task. He was doing the best he could, it’s not his fault.”
Jefri NSC’s athletes division director.