Hannah promises end to high-cost bureaucracy hindering sports

KUALA LUMPUR: Considering the battle towards economic recovery will consequentially result in prolonged curtailed government funding, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has promised cross-ministry efforts to remove bureacracy that hinder the development of sports.

In saying so, Hannah also urged national sports associations (NSAs) and sports organisations to innovate and move towards being independent and free of government funding. Speaking at the Petronas Malaysian Cub Prix Championship 30th Anniversary Appreciation Dinner last night, Hannah said she realised that the issue of funding for sports was prevalent following her engagement with stakeholders including NSAs, athletes and government agencies.

"During the townhall and engagement sessions, among the main issues I learn from all of them is that everyone needs more funding to run programmes and development. But when I go back to Putrajaya, the government then tells me that there is no more funding, that I have to reduce spending," said Hannah.

In agreeing that sports required funding for development, Hannah pointed to the likes of Malaysian Cub Prix Championship and FIM Asia Road Racing Championship promoters Safe Aim Mutual (SAM) Sdn Berhad and Two Wheels Motor Racing (TWMR) Sdn Berhad, who have for the past 30 years created an industry-driven eco-system that has become the biggest local motorsports series virtually without government funding.

"In those 30 years, they have only received government funding once in 2017. But they have grown this series from scratch into such a big series. This goes to show that it can be done. So I urge other sports to look at this as an example, develop yourselves and grow without the need for government funding," said Hannah.

On bureaucracy, Hannah said while the government might not be able to meet the demands for more funding, a study was being conducted to look into the removal of government bureaucracy such as fees, taxes and permits, which have for long added unecessary cost to sports organisers.

"What we can do to help all sports is to remove these roadblocks. In many instances, you need more funding to cover a lot of this bureaucracy to reduce costs and help ease your efforts to develop sports. Some of these costs are high, so by doing this, at least we can help you spend more on sports development and not dealing with bureaucracy," said Hannah.

Also present last night were TWMR managing director Sam Hogg, Petronas group strategic communications head Datuk Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz, Motorsports Association of Malaysia (MAM) chief executive officer Sharmila Nadarajah, former Proton chairman Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff and TWMR promotions director Ron Hogg.