KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will send a resolution from the main sports stakeholders to the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) to appeal to the government to continue organising the 34th SEA Games in 2027.
Its president, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria (pix) said the matter was unanimously agreed upon by all representatives from the national sports associations (NSA) who attended the 209th OCM executive council meeting, today.
He said the resolution, which is the hope of all sports people in the country, will be sent in the form of a letter to Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh in the near future.
Asked about the purpose of the resolution, Mohamad Norza said it was due to concerns over the fate of the Games after the government decided to reject the offer of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games in place of the original organiser, Victoria of Australia, last month.
“This resolution is harmless. We are just putting forward the voices of the grassroots, putting up an appealing voice to the government requesting the government to ensure the plan of having the SEA Games in 2027 is on track.
“We don’t want to have any distraction on the plan as it involves our image and pride. After they heard about the Commonwealth Games, there are questions asking us, when we want to face the SEA Games Federation (SEAGF), we should have the level of confidence that the government is with us,“ he said after chairing the meeting here. today.
He said OCM also does not want national athletes who are waiting to compete in the SEA Games, to worry if there is a disruption in their programme and training.
The SEAGF council members meeting during the Hanoi SEA Games in May 2022, unanimously agreed to grant the right to host the 2027 SEA Games to Malaysia following the withdrawal of Brunei, while Thailand and Singapore were each given permission to host the games in 2025 and 2029.
The 2027 SEA Games will be Malaysia’s seventh time hosting the biennial games, after hosting in 1965, 1971, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2017.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Norza suggested that the 2027 SEA Games be organised in other states such as Sarawak, thus breaking the tradition of only being concentrated in the Klang Valley.
“When I made a courtesy call on (Sarawak Premier) Tan Sri Abang Johari Abang Openg, we did discuss on post- Sukma (Malaysian Games), that Sarawak should play a role in hosting the SEA Games because they have the facilities. I do believe, we can move from the traditional template of just doing it in Kuala Lumpur by sharing with other states, one of them can be Sarawak,“ he said.
Sarawak will host Sukma 2024 from August 17 to 24.
