Aug 20:
AS one of the thousands of parents in Malaysia whose children are in taekwondo (WTF), I am deeply concerned and confused by the status of the Malaysian Taekwondo Association that was de-registered by the Sports Commissioner on May 6, 2005.
While we are informed that the MTA is no longer in existence and therefore non-functional, yet the office in the Olympic Council of Malaysia building is still open, and its officials are still calling the shots.
I say they are still in charge as on Aug 4 a group of five people calling themselves the Council Members of MTA came to the Pusat Cemerlang in Puchong where the Juniors were training and warned the children that they would not be allowed to compete in the 3rd Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships in Kazakhstan from August 19-21, if they competed in the LG 6th International Clubs Open championships that ended at Genting Highlands August 11.
We didn’t think much of that as we believed MTA were no longer in power by virtue of their de-registration. So our children competed in the LG tournament under the banner of Bukit Jalil Sports School and won 7 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals and the Overall Champion Award for the Junior Category. One of them also won the Best Player Award for the Junior Category (14-17 years) after beating Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Jordan respectively for the gold.
But to our dismay, true to their threats the Juniors were informed by their coach on August 12, the Asian Taekwondo Union had barred the Malaysian team from competing as they were not sanctioned by the MTA.
And this directive came a week after an invitation to compete was sent by the organisers to the Minister of Sports namely, Datuk Azalina Othman Said.
Sports Minister Datuk Azalina immediately approved the trip. Visas, passports, flight tickets and budget for the campaign were acquired within the shortest of time with lots of help from friends and well-wishers to get these enthusiastic Junior Players to Kazakhstan on time.
To all these good people, I can only say "THANK YOU VERY MUCH".
But what we would like to know is why weren’t the WTF informed of the de-registration by the Olympic Council of Malaysia, and why is the Sports Commissioner’s office allowing the de-registered MTA to function and ride roughshod over helpless children and their parents who want to see taekwondo prosper in this country?
We would like to know where the OCM stand in this matter, because we feel they were not really passionate about wanting to see the kids competing in the Asian tournament.
Because if they did, they would have done everything they could to convince the WTF that MTA was de-registered and therefore there was no necessity to seek the latter’s sanction.
Their letter to the WTF which stated that while the OCM doesn’t have the jurisdiction, however has no objections about the Malaysian team competing in the Asian tournament.
That’s like saying: "We know they are going but it’s up to you to decide."
So what we have right now, is a bunch of eager kids in Kazakhztan devastated because they have been officially informed by the organisers that they can’t compete.
I don’t know, who to blame for this. But I know one thing, that we as adults have failed miserably in our duties.
In the old days, when people are obstructed from defending their country, the offenders could be punished for treason. But I guess, it’s more acceptable now.
CONCERNED AND CONFUSED PARENT
Source from http://www.nst.com.my
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