TURNING TO ‘MAMAK’ RESTAURANTS

Yakeb, with the help of Presma, hope to raise funds from public

IN a bid to strengthen their financial standing in the long run, the National Athletes Welfare Foundation (Yakeb) is turning to Indian Muslim restaurants, better known as ‘mamaks’, to lend a helping hand.

Newly appointed chairman Datuk Noorul Ariffin Abdul Majeed said Yakeb will be carrying out a soft launch for their ‘Tabung Yakeb’ initiative very soon which will allow members of the public to donate in aid of past and present athletes who depend on the welfare body for assistance.

Under the initiative, Yakeb will work together with the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (Presma), where Yakeb donation boxes will be placed at counters in Presma member restaurants.

Noorul said that the programme will be carried out in stages.

“We recently received RM3 million in funding from the government. Our target however is to raise RM5 million in total, and the additional RM2 million can be in the form of cash, equipment, scholarships, educational programmes and others,” said Noorul, in a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“We will soon be launching Tabung Yakeb to raise more funds, and thankfully a number of Government Linked Companies (GLCs) and other companies from the private sector have also agreed to help us.

“Next week we will have the support of restaurant operators in Malaysia (Presma), and they have roughly 4,000 members across the country.

“We will start first in the Klang Valley where they have a few hundred members.”

He added that Yakeb is also looking to enhance the medical support received by former members in addition to providing them with support in other areas such as education.

Noorul disclosed that he has also forwarded a number of names to Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to consider for appointment to Yakeb’s board of directors.

“In general, I prefer that Yakeb is led by former athletes, if possible one former athlete from each sport. I have submitted a list of candidates for the board of directors to the minister and he will then decide who are suitable.”

The Yakeb board is currently made up of seven members, with a limit of 11 people.