Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Horsing around?

I was reliably informed that not all Ministers adhered to the Prime Minister's directive in 2007 that all Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries be barred from holding positions in sports bodies!

I'm sure we all can recall in August 2007 that those holding such posts were ordered to resign with immediate effect.

Directly affected then were Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn (Malaysian Bodybuilding Federation president), Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy (Table tennis association of Malaysia president), Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (Equestrian Association of Malaysia), Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor (KLFA president), Deputy Information Minister, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Perak FA president) and Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Anifah Aman (FAM vice-president).



Notice the right side of the picture? I put forward the pros and cons behind the decision, possible scenarios and a suggestion in this article which appeared in the old Malay Mail on August 2, 2007.

The Pros

# The Ministers will not be bogged down by voluntary duties in sports bodies

# time to take stock so that the interest of a few does not supersede the sport

# a signal for political parties and leaders at grassroot, State and national level to initiate changes and stop picking politicians - has -beens or budding ones - as head of sports bodies

# there is little risk of politicians in Governmental positions of exposing themselves to criticism from the Press and public alike

# paves the way for corporate captains and academicians to enter the scene

The Cons

# it eliminates Ministers who could be genuinely and sincerely interested in sports

# in the absence of his or her peers, the Sports Minister could become all too powerful and autocratic, with little space for dissent

# Members of Parliament and party leaders are allowed to use sports bodies as a stepping stone

Just a thought

# Herald a change in the Sports Ministry by appointing a former legend as the Minister. Brazil once had Pele as the Sports Minister. Not practical in our society?

The Minister in question is no longer holding any Cabinet post. Word is JJ is determined to cling on to the presidency of EAM now that he is no longer affected by the decision! But why did he not relinquish the post in August last year?

5 comments:

epain said...

to be fair...all politicians...ketua umno bahagian/cawangan...ketua angkatan muda keadilan...puteri umno and even any "machai" in political parties are restricted to hold any position in sport body....

Rockin' Chains said...

There will certainly be more respect given to a former sports person than a nobody.

Anonymous said...

Sdr Rizal,
Tahniah atas pelantikan sdr sebagai Pegawai Media FAM. Adalah diharapkan semoga pelantikan ini dapat membantu ke arah memperhebatkan promosi Liga M.

Sedih masa musim Euro 2008 dulu, berita Euro dalam media mencapai 8-10 muka surat, tapi berita Liga M 'ciput" je. (Hanya jadual perlawanan yang keluar)

Lebih parah, jadual perlawanan dan keputusan PDRM lwn Johior FC yang dipinda ke hadapan pada 16 Jun 08 langsung tidak dilaporkan oleh mana-mana mediapun.

Anonymous said...

setuju dgn epain ada presiden psk dari ketua bhg parti politik yg menekan menteri utk bantuan..tanpa berusaha utk mencari duit utk persatuan yg diterajui...

Anonymous said...

Dear Rizal,

Congrats on your appointment as media officer of the FAM. I suppose with this appointment I wouldn't be wrong to assume that from here on we will be reading only glowing and very positive postings from you regarding the FAM.

Forgive me for my ignorance or my lack of knowledge on the code of ethics that bind journos, but isn't it a little odd for you to be a media officer of the FAM and still want to remain a hard-hitting critic of Malaysian sport.

How is that posible when, if you can't lash out at FAM, you wouldn't have any locus standi to hit out at any other association.

Please enlighten me on how you plan to function as a media officer of the FAM and operate as a blogger without prejudices.