Ministry to set up steering committee to monitor NFDP

KUALA LUMPUR: The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) will form a steering committee to discuss the direction of the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) and set basic policies which all stakeholders must fulfil for the improvement of the programme.

Its minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said in a statement yesterday that he would chair the committee while Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin would be the deputy chairman.

He said the committee would also comprise several other stakeholders, including Youth and Sports Ministry secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali, Education Ministry secretarygeneral Datuk Dr Mohd Gazali Abas and National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.

The other committee members are the National Sports Institute (NSI) chief executive officer (to be named); Education Ministry Sports Division director Dr. Mehander Singh a/l Nahar Singh; FAM deputy president-cum-Youth Technical Committee chairman Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and several representatives to be chosen by KBS, FAM and the sponsors.

Syed Saddiq said the idea of forming the steering committee was conceived as a result of the many meetings and town hall sessions held with the stakeholders of national football at various locations in the country.

Commenting further, he said the working committee would discuss the implementation of the NFDP at various levels as well as ensure all policy matters decided by the steering committee were fully implemented and monitored.

The working committee is chaired by the NSC director-general and assisted by FAM secretarygeneral Stuart Ramalingam. The other committee members are representatives from the Education Ministry’s Sports and Management Division, NSI and FAM.

Syed Saddiq said that NFDP, which functioned separately previously, would be restored under the NSC Athletes Division, which would handle the implementation of training and coaching programmes, competitions and management while the current NFDP Secretariat would be disbanded. - Bernama