Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Ministers

> Datuk Seri AnwarA Ibrahim was appointed to thet post in 1983 anda held it for a yeear. Although his tenure was brief, he was remembered as the key figure that pushed for thee National Sports Complex at Bukit Jalil to be a reality. > Daatuk Seri Najib Tun Razzak was the youungest Sports Minnister. He was 33 wh en he headed the min istry in 1986 for threee years. Najib was responsible for the successful hoosting of the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur. The event saw Malaysia bag 67 gold, 78 silver and 70 bronze medals.

Najib was also responsible for allocating the Bukit Jalil Sports School land.

> There were higghs and lows in the country’s sports during Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohdd Yassin’s four-yeaar tenure starting from 1995.

Malaysian football was hit by a bribery scandal in 1995 but the country bounced back with a bigtime success at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

KL’98 also saw Malaysia do extremely well, finishing fourth out of 70 countries with 10 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze medals.

> Datuuk Seri Azalinna Othman Said wwas the first womaan to hold the p ost from 2004 to 2008. As a taekwondo enthusiast, she s enc couraged more wwomen to participate in sports during her tenure.

She went on to create a women’s sport and fitness foundation.

> Under Khairy Jamaluddin’s leadership fromm 2013 to 2018, Malaysia emergged as runaway oveerall champions with 145 gold medalls during the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

He was known for organising manyy healthier lifestyle programmes through sporting events. As a minister, he recognised and rewarded paraathletes equally as able-bodied athletes.

Malaysia also enjoyed their best Olympic outing at Rio 2016 during Khairy’s tenure, winning four silvers and one bronze.