SYED SADDIQ WANTS PODIUM PROGRAMME OVERHAUL
Sports Minister says programme will be revamped
THE Sports Ministry have stressed that the Podium Programme will not be terminated even though it failed to achieve the objectives set for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April and Indonesia Asian Games which ended on Sunday.
Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, however, said a review and overhaul will be carried out involving all parties in the said programme.
He said such a move is necessary to ensure that no more major setbacks happen, especially in meeting the target of winning the country first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“I feel that it would be unfair to terminate the programme now,” said Syed Saddiq during a post-Asian Games press conference yesterday..
“What’s important now is that I need to get the full report of the post mortem of the Asian Games.
“But I have informed the National Sports Institute (NSI) and the National Sports Council (NSC) that a minor overhaul will not do.
“There needs to be a major overhaul in terms of management structure, the allocation system and the incentive structure so that we can avoid making the same mistakes.”
At the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Malaysia failed to finish in the 10 in the medals standings.
Malaysia were also missing from the top 10 at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
Since the Podium Programme was introduced in 2016, RM67 million has been spent on it.
Meanwhile, former NSC director-general Datuk Mazlan Ahmad suggested that the Podium Programme, which has incurred a big budget, be terminated with immediate effect.
Mazlan, the architect behind Malaysia’s success at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, also called for the high performance sports programme to come under the NSC again instead of the National Sports Institute.
This is because NSC have the manpower and experience to better manage the programme.
On Mazlan’s proposal, Syed Saddiq said the ministry will discuss the matter during an NSC management board meeting soon.