MPC Saga: Sports Ministry ready to intervene if necessary

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 -- The Youth and Sports Ministry is ready to help resolve the leadership saga involving the Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPC) if deemed necessary. 

Its Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abd Rahman said he could intervene to help resolve the issue, but only after seeking advice from the Sports Commissioner's (SC) office. 

“I was informed that several solutions have been proposed by MPC… some want an extraordinary general meeting (EGM), some want arbitration and for me to decide. I will let the Sports Commissioner discuss this with the MPC first to try find a compromise before there is a need for me to intervene. 

“However, if and when all options have been exhausted, I will seek the advice of the Sports Commissioner. If it comes to that, then I will try to resolve the issue as soon as possible, but it has to be in line with existing procedures,” he said when met after the visit of Commonwealth Games vice patron, Britain's Prince Edward at the National Sports Council here today. 

It is learnt that a move by certain parties to hold an EGM to allow aspiring candidates who failed to send in their nomination forms on time to be allowed to contest was only supported by eight out of 24 MPC affiliate member bodies. 

Media reports before this stated that there were several affiliate bodies of the MPC who were hoping for the minister to intervene and resolve MPC's internal conflict that arose during the run-up to its annual general meeting on June 29. 

Based on previous reports, only Syed Saddiq, by virtue of being the Sports Minister, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), can intervene in the MPC crisis after the mediation process carried out before this failed to resolve the issue. 

“My advice is that they need to resolve it quickly. This issue has gone on for too long, and under normal circumstances, there cannot be any intervention from the minister, only advice. So, please resolve this as soon as possible because we have an important meets coming up such as the Para Asean and the Tokyo Paralympic Games,” he said. 

Due to protests and dissatisfactions, on June 29, the AGM for the 2019-2023 term was postponed to a date to be determined later upon the unanimous consent of all 24 affiliates.

-- BERNAMA