KUALA LUMPUR – Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria believes that the sports commissioner should be a “watchdog” rather than a “bloodhound”.
Norza also said that action must be taken in the latest scuffle between the Sports Commissioner’s Office and the Olympic body.
“Some actions must be taken in this matter if there are intentions to restore confidence in the Sports Commissioner’s Office.
“The sports commissioner is someone who should be a watchdog, not a bloodhound,” Norza said after a MoU signing between the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and Astro Kasih today.
Earlier, sports commissioner Suhardi Alias threatened to deregister OCM in a leaked audio clip, infuriating many leaders in the sports fraternity.
When asked to apologise for the threats, Suhardi refused and added that it should be the sports associations that should apologise for their poor performance in recent multisport events.
It was understood that he was mainly hitting out at the core sports associations.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the OCM demanded that Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh intervene in the matter.
“Previously, the sports associations that he (Suhardi) criticised were awarded five stars by his office. For many years, our governance and administration have been in good stead.
“But instead of commenting on governance, he talks about performance of athletes, which is under the National Sports Council’s purview and not the Sports Commissioner’s Office.
“So, moving forward, we hope that the sports commissioner will be someone who the sports fraternity will have confidence in.
Norza, who is also BAM president, said that Hannah has created a harmonious ecosystem in Malaysian sports but the recent comments by Suhardi are not in line with that.
“We cannot have someone who jumps to conclusions and says things that are not under their jurisdiction.
“There is an obvious flaw there, which is why we want the minister to step in and solve this problem.
“If this is allowed to continue, how is the sports fraternity supposed to have confidence in the system?
“So I think it is very important that action be taken to bring back that confidence,” added Norza. – November 21, 2023