‘Minister needs to apologise to Pandelela over reward remark’
KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak information chief Abun Sui Anyit wants Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah to apologise to Pandelela Rinong over his recent remark about ‘too much reward may spoil the athletes’.
The statement was made by Abdul Karim, who is the state’s Youth and Sports Minister, late last week in concurrent with his congratulatory message for Pandelela, who clinched a gold medal in the women’s 10m platform event at FINA Diving World Cup 2021 championships in Tokyo, Japan last Wednesday.
Abdul Karim had told reporters that Sarawak would accord some kind of reward to Pandelela for securing Malaysia’s first-ever gold medal at the Fina meet, but he also pointed out that it was not good to always reward an athlete each time he or she won something.
“If we keep on thinking of giving rewards every time somebody gets a gold medal or achieves fame, it will not be good also because athletes normally love their sport and they are passionate about what they are doing.
“But the state would have its own way of rewarding them,” he was quoted as having said.
In this regard, Abun said Abdul Karim’s remark was not welcome by PKR Sarawak.
“Similarly, Sarawakians in general, as expressed by the netizens on social media, have been criticising the minister.
“Until now, there has not been any effort by the state government to clarify the situation.
“PKR Sarawak strongly opposes such statement. In fact, in one paragraph of his (Abdul Karim’s) statement, he talked about the state government having a way to show appreciation to successful state athletes, but he did not disclose it,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Abun further argued that if the state indeed had its own way of rewarding the athletes, then ‘such way had not been fair’.
“What’s the mechanism used by the state government in appreciating former national sprinter Watson Nyambek, who until now has not received any commensurate appreciation despite having held the national record for the 100m event for 17 years.
“Even during the height of his success, Watson was not duly appreciated by the government. This is the thing that Sarawakians do not want to be repeated, especially to Pandelela,” stressed Abun.
Abdul Karim, in a later comment, had revealed about him receiving phone calls from people asking if Sarawak would accord Pandelela – a two-time Olympic medallist – with a datukship in recognition of her achievements, similar to several other renowned national athletes.
“My reply was, she’s only 28 years old, don’t spoil her. I mean, can you imagine someone in their 20s having a datukship? It would be very difficult for her to interact normally outside – when you got friends outside, they’d call you ‘Datuk’ and things like that.
“I mean let her enjoy her life. The monetary contribution from the state government will come, but we do not want to highlight it too much. We would want her to bring us more fame and for her to enjoy the sport that she loves,” Abdul Karim had said.
On Saturday, the minister issued a clarification stating that his recent statement had been ‘blown out of proportion’, which he claimed had even resulted in threats to burn his house down.
Abdul Karim said the state government would want to see Pandelela and her family being assisted, as her family had also contributed to her success.
He added that the state government had its own mechanisms on giving rewards to athletes who had obtained success in both the local and international arenas.
In this regard, Abun said: “The reluctance of the state government, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports under Abdul Karim, to award Pandelela with the title ‘Datuk’ seems to look down on her worldclass achievements.”
This said, Abun called upon Abdul Karim to ‘be fair and honest’ to Pandelela, who had brought glory to Malaysia and definitely to Sarawak, and apologise to her.
“Was the performance of national squash queen Datuk Nicol Ann David affected by her datukship a ained at the age of 25, which is much younger than Pandelela’s present age of 28?” Abun questioned.