CRUCIAL ELECTIONS FOR MHC
Royalty, corporate figure and incumbent in fray for president’s post?
THE King’s son, the AirAsia chief, the MHC president. All the three have found themselves part of the script about the future of Malaysian hockey following the national team’s setback in London over the weekend.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal came back from England yesterday, feeling down after Malaysia were outclassed by Britain 4-1 and 5-2 (over two legs). He will have to chin up for the MHC elections on Nov 16 to elect the sport’s future leaders.
Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah, the eldest son of the King and the acting Sultan of Pahang, has been nominated for the post of MHC president as well as deputy president.
However, under the new MHC constitution, a candidate for the president’s post must have at least three nominations instead of one (for the other posts).
Ten posts will be up for contest, one president, two deputy presidents (of different genders) and seven vice presidents (of which two will be of different gender).
The early indications are that Tengku Hassanal has only been nominated by Kuala Lumpur for the president’s post. This means there could be a “technical knockout” due to lack of nominations.
Johor have, meanwhile, nominated Tengku Hassanal for the deputy-president’s post but some are of the opinion that the royal should stay away from these MHC elections, and he should wait for the next one before throwing in his hat.
As things stand, the MHC are at a crossroads, and the massive 9-3 aggregate hammering by Britain has dealt a big blow to the national body’s image as well as their future.
It will take a mammoth task to restructure MHC and reestablish the national team in the world order and be good enough to qualify for the Olympics in Paris 2024, after last playing in Sydney 19 years ago.
And in another twist, Kuala Lumpur HA deputy-president I. Vickneswaran has revealed that his president, Datuk Megat D. Shahriman Zaharudin has taken nomination matters into his own hands.
According to Vickneswaran, no meeting was called, and there are no minutes to show how KL nominated their candidates for the MHC elections.
The deputy president said he was told that it was done on the “president’s prerogative”. However, a check with the KL constitution revealed that it was silent on that matter.
So, the legality of a president’s prerogative to nominate without holding a minuted meeting might come to haunt the KL nominees at a later date. Megat has nominated himself for the deputy president’s post.
For Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim, here is another reason to ponder his nomination.
Johor have nominated AirAsia Group Bhd executive chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun as president. So, it might end up with a straight fight between incumbent Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and Kamarudin for the MHC No 1 post.
The MHC have suddenly called for a press conference today to announce the number of nominations each candidate received (after it closed on Saturday).
The president’s and deputy president’s posts are expected to see a straight fight, or even be uncontested.
Datuk S. Shamala, the incumbent women’s deputy president, will also seek reelection and she is favourite to win.
However, Subahan and Shamala have come under fire on social media after they made a U-turn on their pledge (made several times) that they would not seek re-election if the team failed to qualify for the Olympics.
Amid angry netizens calling Subahan and Shamala all sorts of names on social media, both have made a joint-statement that they will seek reelection on Nov 16.
The fact that 32 MHC delegates (only eight can vote in the elections) went on a president-sponsored trip to London to watch Malaysia play Britain in the twomatch Olympic qualifier, has in itself set tongues wagging.
It will take a mammoth task to restructure MHC and reestablish the national team in the world order and be good enough to qualify for the Olympics in Paris 2024, after last playing in Sydney 19 years ago.”
But it must be pointed out that this is nothing new, as MHC delegates had also gone on sponsored-trips to the Dublin and Antwerp Olympic Qualifiers as well as the Hague World Cup.
However, amid the apologies from MHC for letting the fans down, the national body have found themselves in a mess even as they try to regroup.
It is imperative that MHC overhaul their coaching set-up and players’ development programmes for Malaysian hockey to rise again and be in the required standards to fight for a place in the 2024 Olympics.
And with MHC also bidding to host the men’s and women’s World Cups in 2022 and 2023 respectively, Malaysia must have strong national teams.
The present men’s national team are just not good enough despite having so much of experience and training.
It’s better for Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim to wait for another four years to guide Malaysia hockey on the right path instead of walking into a labyrinth of problems now.
Meanwhile, Subahan clarified that national coach Roelant Oltmans is paid RM60,000 per month and not RM100,000 as reported in Timesport on Monday.
And his contract with MHC, which ends in October, does not require a golden handshake for it to be terminated if the Dutchman does not meet his KPI.
The entire national coaching set-up will be reviewed if Subahan retains his post, while the players will be given a choice to either go local or foreign on the coach.