Shahidan Kassim, God's Gift To Malaysian Sports, Speaks Out

There is nothing wrong with having a political figure run a sports association or body, said Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, reports TheStar.

Saying that he was ready to let go of his positions in sports organisations anytime at the request of the Cabinet, Shahidan said: “Our presence has always brought stability to the association concerned. We have never destroyed the sport, we advanced it.”

Last Wednesday, the Cabinet announced that ministers, deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries were prohibited from holding posts in sports bodies. However, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he would get feedback from each mentri besar and chief minister before deciding whether to extend the ban to them as well.

Shahidan, who is among other things the president of the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union, said he was ready to resign immediately if he was found to be “ruining” any association. However, he challenged anyone to prove to him that any sports association in Malaysia had suffered from having the leadership of a political figure. He said certain quarters had been implying that such political figures were “useless” in leading these organisations. If any changes are to be made, let it be a change that will advance us, not leave us behind,” he told reporters.

For this reason, Shahidan proposed that the Malaysia Olympic Council should be headed by the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister. His reasoning was that political figures were willing to volunteer their time and could find financial support more easily. “On the other hand, getting professionals to head the associations might not be easy. Some of them are only interested in the money,” he said.

***** There are times when one must wonder from which forsaken planet some of these politicians come from. Safely ensconced in tiny Perlis, our man Shahidan thinks that he is such a great saviour of sports that not only does he defend the involvement of all politicians but denigrates professionals as well. On top of that he gives advice. And what well thought out advice! He proposed that the Olympic Council of Malaysia should be headed by the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister.

This clearly shows that he has absolutely no clue about the reasons behind the PM's move to ban political specimens from sports. Politicians especially the heavyweights are the main reason why sports in our country has entered a stage of prolonged hibernation and no amount of screaming "Malaysia Boleh" is going to rouse it. Pak Lah's directive is the only thing which can save the sorry state we are in. In fact he must go ahead and ban MBs and CMs along with their state exco colleagues and other feudalistic nitwits that leech on our political system.
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