Karapah to Syed Saddiq: Look into our issue or we’ll protest outside your office

KUALA LUMPUR: Pahang KarateDo Association (Karapah) will camp and protest outside the Youth and Sports Ministry’s office if they don’t look into the issue of their suspension from the Malaysia Karate Federation (Makaf ).

Karapah president Kevin Ramesh said they hope their suspension can be lifted before the Biennial General Meeting (BGM) on Oct 28 to elect the new executive committee members for Makaf so that Karapah can vote.

“We’re pleading with the Youth and Sports Minister to use his powers to weigh out the current situation and take necessary action before the closing date to hand in the nomination papers on Oct 24 (Wednesday).

“After holding a press conference on Sept 25 and sending a letter to Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman two days later to seek his help to lift the suspension, we have not received any response or an audience with the Minister until now.

“We have also learned that the Minister has not officially met with any sports associations since he was appointed.

“If we have not received a response from the Minister, we will go out and protest and camp in front of his office in Putrajaya on Monday,” said Kevin, during a press conference at Wisma OCM (Olympic Council of Malaysia) yesterday.

The BGM has been brought forward from next year to Oct 28 and Kevin said earlier that the issue started last year after they accepted Pahang Karate Hayashi- Ha Association and Bentong District Karate Association to help promote karate in the state.

Kevin said the acceptance of the new affiliated members was not supported by Makaf secretary-general Vincent Chen.

“We sent a letter of complaint to Makaf president Tan Sri Ali Rustam about the intervention in our affairs but we were later suspended.”

He added that the Makaf disciplinary committee met on Sept 21 and decided that their suspension was invalid but the Makaf exco did not want to accept this and said they will only discuss this after the BGM.

“It’s not fair to us as we’re unable to vote in the BGM if the suspension is not revoked.

“We have written to the Sports Commissioner’s office and we also want the Sports Minister to look into the matter.”