MALAYSIA: Elyas endorses MTCA and clubs

S. Selvam
July 2:
THE Malaysian Taekwondo Clubs Association (MTCA), the first national body to bring all taekwondo clubs under the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) system under one body, has been approved by Sports Commissioner Tan Sri Elyas Omar.

In fact, Elyas and his officers have also approved the application of 21 taekwondo clubs that sought registration with the Commissioner's office following Elyas' advice to do so on Feb 16.

"We have approved the MTCA and also 21 other taekwondo clubs. However, we have approved the applications based on an interim constitution and all the clubs and MTCA have six months to come up with a new and comprehensive constitution," said Elyas yesterday.

"The constitution for the MTCA, for instance, was drafted by seven or eight members, and once they have more members, it (constitution) may not reflect what the members want.

"As for the clubs, there are some errors in their constitution as well. Which is why, we have approved the applications based on an interim constitution."

The MTCA and clubs have six months to formulate their final constitution.

Taekwondo's (WTF-style) governing body in Malaysia, the Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA), was de-registered on May 6. The association, however, has taken the matter to the court.

Two weeks ago, the pro-tem committee of the MTCA, led by its president Chee Hock Choong appealed to Elyas to expedite the association's application.

Elyas, however, clarified that all that stood in the way of approving the MTCA application was an interim constitution which was subsequently provided by MTCA.

In the Feb 16 dialogue, Elyas proposed five models of governance to the de-registered MTA and its members, including forming a governing body for clubs, all of which granted clubs voting rights and direct affiliation to the national body.

And with even the Malaysian AAU (MAAU), the governing body for athletics in the country, looking at opening their affiliation and voting rights to a national body of clubs, Elyas' approval of the MTCA could well see a new chapter in Malaysian sports.

The Malaysian sports scene is traditionally a State-Federal system but with many State affiliates merely making up the numbers only, there have been calls for national bodies to open their affiliation to national organisations like Police, National Banks Sports Council, Prisons and a National Association of Clubs for that particular sport.

"We (Sports Commissioner's office) will organise a seminar in five months for these clubs and MTCA to present and discuss two or three models of standard constitution," added Elyas.

"In the meantime, these clubs and MTCA also can garner feedback from their members for a better constitution. After all these, they should have their respective AGMs (annual general meeting) to finalise their constitution."

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