KJ: Youth and sports minister must be proactive, not play 'taichi'

The youth and sports minister must be a proactive leader and not act like a “taichi minister”, said former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

During an episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast yesterday, Khairy, the former youth and sports minister, clarified that he did not wish to come across as offering advice to the current minister Hannah Yeoh.

However, he remarked that Yeoh must be courageous in confronting the “big beasts” elected to helm the country’s sports councils and associations.

“If a minister chooses to ‘taichi’ by saying ‘I didn’t elect these people, so I can’t do anything about it’, that’s not going to cut it, because you (Yeoh) are the minister.

“If the sports minister becomes an insignificant person in terms of presence, and is unwilling to face the ‘big beasts’ in sports associations, then people will walk all over you.

“I read the minister’s (Facebook) statement, but that’s not good enough,” he said, in response to Yeoh’s Facebook statement on Monday (Aug 12).

In the post, Yeoh detailed the types of appointments within the country’s sports landscape, while clarifying that she was not in the position to sack those who she didn’t appoint.

“While some positions, such as those in the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), are elected by their members, others are appointed directly by the minister.

“Those elected by others, I do not have power to remove.

“That is done through a democratic process, and we must respect that. I can only remove those I appoint,” she explained.

Yeoh’s statement came amidst the controversy surrounding OCM president Norza Zakaria after his family was spotted watching the Paris Olympics with their accreditation cards circulated on social media.

Leverage

In response, Khairy admitted it was difficult to control the “taikor” (big brothers), former politicians or business people leading the sports associations.

However, he reminded Yeoh that these independent councils and associations depend on the ministry as the majority of the funding comes from the government.

“That’s your leverage. If you are not willing to get your hands dirty and go up against them, you will not succeed.

“If (Yeoh) stays as the youth and sports minister, she must be brave and not only call for the associations to elect a good leader. No! Make it happen.

“Although the government is not allowed to intervene in sports associations matter, there are many ways,” he added.

Khairy's co-host, former Umno information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan, also said the sports minister attending the Olympics must be seen as a “leader that happens to the world”.

“You (Yeoh) need to be there, to be seen to be there. You must be seen as somebody with a positive force and effect on the whole mood.

“If you are just a ‘world happens to you’ kind of leader, then there is a risk.

“If there’s a misstep, or you are photographed with the wrong people, you will be criticised,” Shahril said.

Average performance

In a related matter, Khairy defended the Malaysian contingent’s performance at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, describing the overall result as neither a failure nor a disaster.

However, Khairy said the two bronze medals brought home from the games, in terms of numbers and not colour or medals, were average.

He said the latest medal count was on par with Malaysia’s performances in Atlanta 1996, London 2012, Tokyo 2020.

“The extraordinary one was during the 2016 Rio Olympics, where we won five medals.

“In terms of our performance, it can’t be reflected solely by two bronze medals. There were many positives to draw from Malaysia's performance in Paris," he said.

Yesterday, Yeoh apologised to all Malaysians after the national contingent failed to bring home the country’s first Olympic gold medal.

She said the Road To Gold (RTG) programme was not a failure but has yet to succeed as it was a long-term plan implemented for two Olympic Games - Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.

She added that the RTG committee will meet and receive technical reports from all teams to assess the athletes’ performance and to prepare an audited report on the programme’s expenditure.

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