The Table Tennis Association of Malaysia (TTAM) today admitted to the ownership of the privileged 'Perfect' car plates.

This comes after a DAP lawmaker had claimed, earlier this month, that the plates were sold by a direct sales company.

For this, TTAM vice-president Han Kee Juan has urged Nga Kor Ming to apologise, publicly and unconditionally within seven days, for his false and misleading statement.

"The relevant ownership of 'Perfect' car plates belongs to TTAM and it is not related to any direct sales company. We never authorised any direct sales company to sell the car plates," Han said at a press conference.

It planned to sell 100 car plates (from number 1 to 100) to raise RM5 million to fund TTAM's activities. The bid closed on Aug 15 with a total of 80 number plates sold.

On Sept 5, Nga accused the Transport Ministry and Road Transport Department (RTD) of abuse of power in their process of issuing the rights to sell several controversial car plates.

Without naming the company brand nor TTAM, Nga (photo) said "even direct sales companies are selling privileged 'Perfect' car plates".

He then called on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the bidding process.

Han noted that Nga's statement, which was published by two Chinese dailies, had an impact on TTAM's efforts to raise funds to develop the sport, although the DAP MP did not name the association.

"He said the (right to sell) car plates was given to a direct sales company to make huge profits. We need to correct his statement.

"His irresponsible and false statement has tarnished the good name of the association. We feel hurt," he said, adding that this has caused harm to more than 500,000 table tennis players, their families and followers.

TTAM president donated RM5 million

According to Han, TTAM named the car plates to commemorate the "Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championship" held in Shah Alam earlier this year.

The competition was named after TTAM president Koo Yuen Kim, who donated RM5 million for the game through a direct sales company, Perfect Co Ltd, which he owns in China.

Perfect Co Ltd was the title sponsor for the championship and Malaysia became the first country in Asean to host the event since its inception in 1926.

"The current incident on application to issue special car plates for donation has nothing to do with Perfect Co Ltd," said Han.

He said 'Perfect' was a merely a general term and does not refer to the direct sales company.

"Perfect doesn't mean Perfect company. We are perfectly talking to you in a perfect manner. Perfect can be any other term. The Perfect (car plates carry) no logo," he added.

The car plates bid was needed to cover all debts incurred in the process of hosting the world championship, which TTAM's initial budget of RM10 million had increased to RM16 million due to a change of venue.

"We originally planned to hold the game at Bukit Jalil, but it was closed for renovation in order to host the SEA Games. So, we had to move to Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam," he said.

TTAM was forced to spend millions to build the temporary structures to accommodate the participation of more than 100 teams from all over the world, Han added.

On top of that, he said, TTAM also plans to build a table tennis club in future.

"The financial records and accounts of TTAM are clear and transparent. It is being audited annually by chartered accountants and the Sport Commissioner," Han said.

TTAM will consult its lawyer, Quek Ngee Meng, to decide on further legal action if Nga refuses to apologise.

Asked about this, Quek said TTAM has yet to issue a legal notice to the lawmaker.

'No need to apologise'

When contacted, Nga said he made no reference to TTAM in the first place.

"I did not know that the 'Perfect' car plates belonged to TTAM," he said.

"As an MP, I only raised a matter that is of public interest. Neither did I refer to the table tennis association, nor its office bearers. As such, their demand for me to apologise has no basis.

"More important is that the Transport Ministry must come clean on this matter and explain to the public why certain parties or companies are allowed to sell special car plates without calling an open tender."

'We just processed it'

Meanwhile, RTD director-general Nadzri Siron told Malaysiakini that the department is not aware that the car plate matches the name of a company.

"I am not aware of it. We don't relate this to a direct sales company. We just (processed it) based on their application.

"In fact, when they applied (for the number plates), they complied with the conditions and we approved," he responded curtly.

Nadzri, who is currently away in Bintulu, said he could not provide additional details on the matter.

On Aug 29, Malaysiakini reported that National Affirmative Action Movement Foundation (Naam) bought the rights to sell "NAAM" car number plates from the RTD for RM1 million, through direct negotiation.