A tale of two DGs

The New Straits Times carried this on May 1, 2008

THE National Sports Council (NSC), as far as director general Datuk
Zolkples Embong is concerned, initiated prudent spending immediately upon
the conclusion of the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Zolkples, who took over from Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz as the NSC
director general in April, 2007, said cost-cutting measures began with
the move to pay athletes allowances based on performances.
In fact, he expects NSC's overall expenses to further reduce after the
Beijing Olympics.
NSC was ticked off by Deputy Auditor General Azizah Arshad as its
audited accounts showed an increase from RM6.3 million in 2003 to RM28
million in 2006 for expenditures on professional services, celebrations
and hospitality, coaching and officials, national sports awards and the
Malaysia Games.
"We have to understand that NSC's programmes are growing and expenses
increase as focus is given to development.
"The priority this year has been for athletes to qualify for the
Olympics and so far, we have spent close to RM8 million in all sports to
help athletes qualify for Beijing.
"Obviously, the expenses will be reduced after the Beijing Olympics but
a drastic drop cannot be expected as there are other existing programmes
and there is also the Sea Games next year.
"The Sea Games may not be as costly as other major Games but we will be
sending a big contingent, especially development athletes, and this will
still cost us."
Zolkples said the significant hike in the organisational cost of the
2004 Negri Sembilan Malaysia Games and the 2006 Kedah Malaysia Games was
because the allocation for the Negri Games was channeled directly to the
state government by the Sports Ministry and this didn't appear in NSC's
audited accounts.
NSC's 2004 Malaysia Games expenditure was RM282,987 while the Kedah
Games cost the organisation RM3.371 million.

AND this on April 30, 2008


NATIONAL Sports Institute (NSI) director general Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul
Aziz has acknowledged that the National Sports Council's (NSC)
expenditures had ballooned since 2003, particularly in 2006.
The NSC was ticked off by deputy auditor general Azizah Arshad as its
audited accounts had shown a significant increase of expenditure from
RM6.3 million in 2003 to RM28 million in 2006 for professional services,
celebrations and hospitality, coaching and officials, national sports
awards and the Malaysia Games.
Ramlan, who was the NSC director-general during that period, said the
growth of the organisation, including the restructuring of the entire NSC
set-up, were the main reasons for increased expenditure.
However, Ramlan was disappointed that efforts to cast former Sports
Minister (Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said) and her management team
negatively has been blown out of proportion.
"The deputy auditor general has already looked into it and we have
acknowledged. The spending of public funds has been under the microscope
and if there was any wrongdoing, the authorities can investigate," said
Ramlan at his office in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
"However, what has now become serious is the concerted effort to cast a
negative image of the former sports minister and the officers who had
served under her.
"All I can say is that there was prior approval for all the projects.
Everything was on principle and above board, according to the process and
procedures of the government.
"As an organisation, the NSC has grown with new divisions being
introduced.
"The concentrated effort to do well in the Doha Asian Games (in 2006),
new facilities for the Kedah Malaysia Games, the increase of allowances
for national athletes all contributed to the expenditure. There were also
more coaches with higher salaries.
"I would be able to give a more detailed explanation on this but I need
to have an exact breakdown first."
Ramlan said 2006 was an extraordinary hectic sporting year with the
Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Japan and the
Asian Games being held besides other regular international events, which
caused spending during that year to increase considerably.
The hike in expenses for the Malaysia Games from RM282,987 in Negri
Sembilan in 2004 to RM3.37 million in Kedah two years later was due to
the fact that venues had to either be built or renovated to help the
development of certain sports.