Penang commits RM15 million for six sports in 2027 SEA Games, seeking extra funds amid West Asia conflict economic strain.
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government is capable of organising six sports for the 2027 SEA Games despite the current economic situation following the conflict in West Asia, said state Youth, Sports and Health Committee chairman Daniel Gooi.
He said the RM15 million allocation from the state government must be managed prudently as it is relatively limited compared to the overall requirements to be funded by the Malaysia 2027 SEA Games Main Organising Committee at the Penang level.
“Initially, when Penang agreed to be part of the 2027 SEA Games hosting, the RM15 million allocation was only for snooker and billiards events. However, after discussions with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we found that the allocation could support six sports, including table tennis, judo, boxing, sepak takraw and floorball.
“However, this was before the West Asia crisis. Therefore, an additional injection of RM5 million to RM10 million from the private and public sectors would be able to absorb the expected excess expenditure over the next 15 months,” he said.
He said this at the Penang State Assembly sitting here today in response to a question from Wong Yuee Harng (PH-Pengkalan Kota) on whether the RM15 million allocation provided by the state government is sufficient to host six sports in the 2027 SEA Games, given the current global economic strain caused by the West Asia conflict.
Gooi said the additional funding would cover major costs such as accommodation, logistics and transport, management and administration, technical arrangements, procurement of sports equipment and other unforeseen expenses for the biennial Games.
The 2027 SEA Games, scheduled from Sept 18 to 29, will involve four main clusters in Sarawak, Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur.
