MALAYSIA: 33 clubs take up Elyas’ advice

S. Selvam
May 4:

SPORTS Commissioner Tan Sri Elyas Omar’s advice to taekwondo clubs to register with his office is gaining momentum.

As at April 30, 33 clubs had applied to the Sports Commissioner’s office to be registered which is a huge improvement considering none of the 40-strong Malaysian Taekwondo Association’s (MTA) associate members (clubs) did so just two and a half months ago.

And Assistant Sports Commissioner 1, Asmadi Mohamad believes, given time, more clubs will come forward to register with the Commissioner’s office.

"As at April 30, 33 clubs have applied to the Sports Commissioner’s office for registration," said Asmadi when met at the Commissioner’s office in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

"However, the number could be more as some of the applications may be with the Sports Commissioner (Elyas) or Principal Assistant Sports Commissioner (Raja Abdul Kadir Raja Omar).

"We are processing the applications and as soon as they are approved, we will inform the clubs."

The MTA have a successful club structure that has produced many national exponents but the clubs have been unable to have a say in the running of the association as they don't have voting rights.

In fact, some of these clubs are more active, if not equally so, than the State associations and provide the bulk of exponents for the national team and organise their own competitions.

There are also clubs that send their promising athletes for competitions abroad without depending on the national body for financial assistance.

However, one of the arguments in support of not granting the clubs voting rights is that the clubs are registered with the Registrar of Business (ROB) and are not deemed as pure sports clubs.

But Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said issued a directive to the MTA to give clubs direct affiliation and voting rights in January and Elyas followed up with a dialogue on Feb 16 and presented the association with five models of governance, all granting clubs voting rights.

But Elyas also spelt out one condition — only clubs that are registered with his office will be able to enjoy these privileges (direct affiliation with voting rights).

And to date, 33 of the clubs have heeded Elyas’ call.

Source from http://www.nst.com.my