FMT:
‘Own’ SEA Games failure and make changes, KJ tells Hannah
Khairy Jamaluddin recounts how he changed the National Sports Council director-general after poor performances at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2014.
Hannah Yeoh with karate exponents C Shahmalarani and S Prem Kumar who won Malaysia’s first gold medals at the 2023 SEA Games. However, Malaysia failed to meet its target of 40 gold medals. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin has advised youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh to accept and “own” the poor showing at the SEA Games in Cambodia, and make changes in top sporting bodies.
Khairy said Yeoh needed to be big-hearted as sports was an “emotive issue” for Malaysians.
The former youth and sports minister recounted how the Malaysian contingent had also performed below expectations at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Asian Games, a year after he became minister.
“I didn’t hit the (medal) target for both. I could have said I was a new minister, that it’s just a year in, that’s why targets were not met. But I owned the failure and apologised,” he said in the Keluar Sekejap podcast.
“I decided to change the director-general of the National Sports Council (MSN) because I felt he had been there for too long. I had to make the tough decision to change a sitting MSN director-general. (It was) completely unheard of,” he said.
Khairy said he understood Yeoh’s reasoning in saying the multiple changes in government in recent years had contributed to Malaysia’s dismal medal haul, acknowledging that there were changes in ministers and policies for sports.
However, he said it was “distasteful” to only pin it on political instability.
Khairy’s podcast partner, former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan, agreed and said Malaysians would have taken the minister’s side if she had just “owned the failures”.
“People will understand. You’ve been minister for only six to eight months. But it does not make sense for you to come up with this excuse,” he said.
Khairy acknowledged that preparations for the SEA Games would usually take two years and that there was “a lot of planning” in the run-up to the event.
PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin has advised youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh to accept and “own” the poor showing at the SEA Games in Cambodia, and make changes in top sporting bodies.
Khairy said Yeoh needed to be big-hearted as sports was an “emotive issue” for Malaysians.
The former youth and sports minister recounted how the Malaysian contingent had also performed below expectations at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Asian Games, a year after he became minister.
“I didn’t hit the (medal) target for both. I could have said I was a new minister, that it’s just a year in, that’s why targets were not met. But I owned the failure and apologised,” he said in the Keluar Sekejap podcast.
“I decided to change the director-general of the National Sports Council (MSN) because I felt he had been there for too long. I had to make the tough decision to change a sitting MSN director-general. (It was) completely unheard of,” he said.
Khairy said he understood Yeoh’s reasoning in saying the multiple changes in government in recent years had contributed to Malaysia’s dismal medal haul, acknowledging that there were changes in ministers and policies for sports.
However, he said it was “distasteful” to only pin it on political instability.
Khairy’s podcast partner, former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan, agreed and said Malaysians would have taken the minister’s side if she had just “owned the failures”.
“People will understand. You’ve been minister for only six to eight months. But it does not make sense for you to come up with this excuse,” he said.
Khairy acknowledged that preparations for the SEA Games would usually take two years and that there was “a lot of planning” in the run-up to the event.
Hannah must go
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