Formal Presentation to YB Minister of Youth & Sports

On 22nd October 2008 at 11.00am in Parliament at AJK Room No. 2, there was formal Presentation of the Proposal by “102” Former Hockey Internationals.

Although the Proposal is 99 pages the presentation covered approximately 58 pages and took nearly an hour.

In attendance with the YB Minister were the Chairman of SAP and the DG of NSC. There were other officers from KBS and NSC. The “102” were represented by 10 of them.

The main Presentation was done by Mike (Maninderjit Singh) and Mirnawan Nawawi. The introduction and closing was the specialty of K Enbaraj.

The Minister was fascinated with the “Road Map for Hockey” comprising of the Game & Administration with the relevant elements. Indeed the Minister recognises that the “Road Map” could be utilized for other team sports.The fundamentals of "The right person in the right position" and "The road to excellence" caught the Minister's attention.

The key aspect of the Presentation were the bold “Recommendation” which relates to:
¨ Affiliates
¨ Office Bearers
¨ Strategic Planning

It was emphasized if we get these 3 absolutely ,the game of hockey would have a rock solid foundation.

In principle the Proposal recommends an “Open Door” policy for affiliation with certain criteria of entry and sustaining the membership.

It also comes with an innovative idea of requesting for “Tax Breaks” in the form of “double deduction” for sporting expenditure as the means to attract corporate organizations to participate and become an Affiliate.

On top of it, it recommends that MHF shall solicit for a “Charitable Status” making it easier to obtain donations.

The aspect of Office Bearers, seem to infuse a quality control process of qualification and experience in hockey to permit participation in MHF election.

The proposal embodies an Election Vetting Committee to pre-qualify the candidates.

The proposal spent substantial time on Strategic Planning covering:
¨ Master Plan
¨ Budgeting
¨ Marketing Unit
¨ Business Unit

In the Master Plan it details “The Vision” and “The Mission” and Targets for a period of 8 years. The existence of the Master Plan presupposes the requirement of Policies and Standard Operating Procedures, which are essential for good governance.

Budgeting is brought into the forefront to confront the prevailing weakness and to create the principles of transparency and accountability.

Marketing and Business Units are recommended to be created to encourage the game of hockey and to permit MHF to become financially independent.

The 3 key strategy elements of Affiliates, Office Bearers and Strategic Planning were utilized in areas of Coaches, Development and Database and reflected the very success if it is implemented..

Finally, in the “The Way Forward” the Proposal recognizes the “Recommendations” require a major structural change i.e. constitutional amendment. It realizes this is not easy and has suggested the following approach: -

¨ Main Intervention Strategy (MIS)
To allow MHF to rehabilitate itself within a time frame but report to the “Task Force” that is to be set-up by the “relevant parties”.

¨ Alternate Intervention Strategy (AIS)
If MHF chooses not to adopt a self-regulatory process then the Sports Act comes into play, where a Special Committee takes over MHF by suspending it first.

This drastic measure must be made known to FIH and the Special Committee revamps MHF and hands it back to the Affiliates including the new members.

Such actions are only possible if KBS, NSC and OCM referred to as “relevant parties” get together and decide that it is better for the future of hockey.

When the Presentation concluded, the Minister was thoroughly impressed and his questions were mainly related to Sukan Teras and ISN.

At the end of the Presentation, the Minister had a press conference and attached is the Bernama’s report of it.

With this “102” Former Hockey Internationals role and involvement in Malaysian hockey has officially ended.


Bernama's Report.

Proposal By 102 Ex-Internationals To Be Handed Over To MHF

LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) -- A proposal on how to reform Malaysian hockey, submitted by 102 former national hockey players, would be handed over to the new Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) committee.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the 99-page proposal submitted by the group contained a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of how to improve and develop hockey in the country.

"Apart from hockey, the Ministry also welcomes similar initiatives from former athletes of other sports," said Ismail Sabri after listening to a detailed briefing by the groups representatives Maninderjit Singh and Mirnawan Nawawi here Wednesday.

The MHF are expected to hold their Annual General Meeting cum election for office bearers on Nov 1.

Ismail Sabri said the groups proposal had two sections, one detailing the game of hockey and the other touched on the administration of hockey at national and state level.

Meanwhile, National Sports Council (NSC) Director-General Datuk Zolkples Embong said among proposals submitted by the group was to set up a data bank of national players for easy reference by coaches.

"The group has also outlined short term and long term plans aimed at qualifying for the World Cup and Olympics within five years," said Zolkples.

Last month, a group of 102 former national players, managers and coaches had raised concern over the poor state of hockey in the country and urged the Minister to intervene.

The group later submitted a memorandum to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is also the chairman of the Cabinet Committee for Sports, Ismail Sabri, Zolkples, Olympic Council of Malaysia President Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar and Sports Advisory Panel chairman Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad.

Malaysia, ranked fourth in the world in 1975 and now ranked 15th, had failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2006 World Cup and 2008 Beijing Olympics.-- BERNAMA