12 theSun | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 11 2009

speak up!

thesun says

Let the upcoming by-elections be peaceful

SOON voters in the parliamentary
constituency of Bukit Gantang in Perak
and the state constituency of Bukit
Selambau in Kedah will be required
to go to the ballot boxes again to
choose their new representatives. In
Bukit Gantang the representative they
voted in on March 8 last year died on
Monday while in Bukit Selambau their
assemblyman resigned his seat on
the same day for personal reasons.
After the by-elections, probably next
month, are over, the country would
have had four by-elections, all within
a year after the landmark March 8
general election.
Last month the voters of Kuala
Terengganu had to choose a new MP
to represent them after the one they
chose earlier died. The Permatang
Pauh by-election in August was the
first and it was held because the
representative the voters there chose
five months earlier decided to resign
to make way for her husband who
wanted to be MP.
While the by-elections in August
and January involved voters in only
those two constituencies the atten-
tion of many people elsewhere was
drawn to them. Similarly the upcom-
ing by-elections are going to be closely
monitored by many people elsewhere
for whatever indications they can read
into them. There is no doubt at all that
many things that happened outside
Permatang Pauh and Kuala Tereng-
ganu influenced the outcomes there.
Similarly, many things that happened
and are happening outside Bukit Gan-
tang and Bukit Selambau are going
to influence the voters in these two
constituencies.
Naturally all kinds of spin are going
to be given to what is happening in
Perak making one side involved in the
current state political imbroglio look
good and the other side look bad. The
voters will be wooed long before the
official campaign period starts. And
naturally emotions will run high. It
is therefore hoped that the parties
involved in the upcoming by-elections
and their campaigners will be able to
exercise restraint when stumping for
their candidates. What is most impor-
tant, the by-elections should not be
marred by ugly and violent incidents
caused by unrestrained and emotion
charged speeches. It will reflect badly
on our conduct during elections and
our ability to elect our representatives
peacefully. The Kuala Terengganu
by-election last month was peace-
ful and incident-free. Of course we
will never know whether it was
peaceful and incident-free because
we had exercised a lot of restraint
voluntarily – as we indeed should
– or it was peaceful and incident-free
because we were forced to exercise
restraint by the large presence of
our men in blue bussed into the con-
stituency to ensure orderliness. Let us
hope that it was both. But let us also
hope that we have matured and that
we do not need so many policemen
in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau
to ensure that the by-elections are
peaceful and incident-free.

Cash blinds sports

Keep smoking
hazard ads
I SUPPORT the Health Ministry’s
graphic anti-smoking ads. Why should
“they” (whoever they are) be so upset
over pictures of victims.
It is the ministry’s obligation to
continue with the graphic ads – no
more rhetoric and pussy-footing with
public sensitivities. Nothing racial,
religious, economic, political or
gender or age about being cancer
victims. Infants and young children
are not immune, nor are the young
brainless – sick is sick.
It was mandatory that graphic
images were to be printed on
cigarette packs by June last year. The
move was postponed to December
and then to next month on the
flimsiest of excuses.
Let not the tobacco companies
continue with these delaying tactics
at the expense of public health and
medical costs.
Without strict enforcement, these
gruesome images will not work
– short-term memory – please hit
smokers where they hurt most – in
their pockets – and post pictures of
smokers blatantly disregarding gazet-
ted non-smoking areas especially
politicians, police and health officers
– the people who should know better.
Enough talk and double standards.
D. Yap
Via email
IT’S A sad but true reflection
of sports in Malaysia. When the
glitter of gold with the Malay-
sian flag on the breast pocket
is overtaken by brand names
in exchange for hard cash, the
inevitable has to happen. Yes,
money cannot replace pride and
passion but it can change the or-
der of priority. There were times
when athletes ran for “King and
country”, but these days, there
are athletes who run to the tune
of the Pied Piper. While covering
the IAAF meet in Berlin 16 years
ago, I vividly remember penning
these words: “At the World Ath-
letics meet in Tokyo last month,
they ran for the glory. Last night,
at the Olympic Stadium, they
ran for the money.” Yes. There
was and still is plenty of money
in made-for-TV athletics meets
– the biggest of all is one kilo-
gram of solid gold!
Against such a backdrop, it
would be foolish to expect every
athlete to “Run for the King and
country” not to be rewarded
financially for his or her efforts.
The kind of incentives offered by
the government using taxpay-
ers’ money is sufficient evidence
that money does a lot of talking.
Add to that, the millions in prize
money that are being
offered underscore
the point. But when
“mercenaries” de-
scend on our shores
hoping to “squeeze”
taxpayers’ money to
line their pockets,
the ball game takes a
different dimension.
When millions are
paid to individu-
als and companies
CitizenNades tote
guised as “messiahs” by R. Nadeswaran
who can lift the
standard of sports,
then we are left with no choice
but to look into past “efforts” to
seek justification.
The Champions Youth Cup
is a vivid example. After parting
with RM17 million as “bidding
fee” for a tournament which no
one wanted and getting zero
results, we thought fit to pay an
“advance” of RM8 million for the
next edition without examining
the “benefits” the previous one
had brought about.
The dwindling coffers of
the National Sports Council
did not prevent the authorities
from signing up for yet another
money-making venture – the
ESPN Sports Centre Malaysia.
Despite the rosy pic-
ture painted on the
viewership, the bitter
truth no one chose to
even imagine is that
RM10 million a year
brought about no
significant contribu-
tion to enhance the
level of sports. The
list is endless. If we
up taxpayers’
contributions to
sports over the past
10 years, it would
have crossed the
billion ringgit mark. And yet,
what have we to show except
for the exploits of Nicol David
and Lee Chong Wei? Soccer is in
the doldrums; hockey is closely
following suit; after the era of
Rabuan Pit, Marina Chin and
Zaiton Othman’s quarter-mile
relay quartet, there’s nothing to
show for except golds at the SEA
Games. And rightly, the sports
minister has acknowledged that
victories in these regional games
which have been reduced to
community sports festivals are
not worth pursuing. At least try,
says the minister to be number
one in your game in this region.
And that is why we should
not let money be the “be-all” factor when
it comes to the Kuala Lumpur Interna-
tional Marathon. The attempted hijacking
of the race which had been organised by
the Federal Territory Amateur Athletic
Association (FTAAA) since 1984 with an
impeccable record is testimony of the big
money game.
Along come a couple of foreigners, aided
and abetted by a local sports official, and
hey presto, the organising of the events
changes hands. It’s as simple as that. To
add salt to the wound, these foreigners
have demanded that the FTAAA withdraw
its application for trademark registration
which was filed at the office of the Intel-
lectual Property Organisation.
How this could happen, if examined
carefully, would be yet another tragedy in
our sports annals. While some may view the
foreign-local partnership as a collaboration,
we would like to view it as menderhaka (a
term that is being widely used these days)
vis-à-vis Malaysian sports. Besides, it raises
a basic principle – conflict of interests.
Datuk Ibrahim Saad is the vice-presi-
dent of the Olympic Council of Malaysia
and has been representing Octagen, the
so-called company which is trying to hijack
the marathon. The company is said to have
signed an agreement with the Malaysian
Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) but no
one has sighted the documents although
news reports suggest that Octagen has been
given the right to organise the marathon
for 10 years and in return, they would pay
RM500,000 annually to the union.
Ibrahim’s position in the OCM becomes
untenable because he has been widely
quoted as “consultant” of Octagen. If you
represent the governing body of sports in
the country and take a position as a con-
sultant for a sports promoter, would it not
be a conflict of interest? He has to choose
between an honorary position in OCM and
being a consultant for the company.
By the way, checks with the Companies
Commission of Malaysia show that Octagen
has not been registered as a company or a
business in this country. On the other hand,
the MAAU executive board has neither seen
nor endorsed the agreement with Octagen.
It is said that its deputy president Karim
Ibrahim signed on behalf of the union. The
pertinent question to ask is: Can one man
commit the union without consulting the
board? If the answer is no, then the contract
becomes null and void. If the answer is yes,
then the hypothetical analogy would be: He
could also sell off the assets (whatever is
remaining) without consultation.
What is more interesting is that Octagen
announced that it would be organising the
event without getting the nod from the
sports commissioner, a basic requirement.
Now that complaints have been lodged and
if consent is not given, a few people will
have eggs splattered on their faces and the
so-called corporate social responsibility
exercise by Standard Chartered Bank which
has signed up as the title sponsor, would be
in tatters. It is a pity that an organisation
which practises strict policies on disclosure
by its own officers did not run the extra
mile when it came to hijacking a historic
marathon which had been organised and
supported by Malaysians.

R. Nadeswaran says sports should be run

by sportsmen – not companies which keep
looking at the bottom line. He is editor (spe-
cial and investigative reporting) at theSun.
Feedback: citizen-nades@thesundaily.com