My Aussie trip

I have not been able to update Foul! for the past week as I have been away - to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne within the past seven days to be exact.

The trip was sponsored by the Australia-Malaysia Institute, an initiative funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia.


Rest assured, no duit Rakyat Malaysia was spent. And the only thing I bought for myself is a didgeridoo which I got at a good bargain - AUD40 (RM123.20).

It was a hectic but good trip as I was the sole Malaysian journalist in the group. The rest were Bangkok Post sports editor Wanchai Rujawongsanti, Siam Sport journalist Adinun Muenyang, another Thai journo Supachoke Nuamnim and Korbua Laorujijinda - the media officer for the Australian Embassy in Bangkok.


We met many people, from the Australian futsal team and representatives from the Football Federation of Australia in Sydney, Aussie swimmer Geoff Huegill, visited the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra to exchanging thoughts with officials from Tourism Victoria, DFAT and watching an Aussie rules football match in Melbourne.


More importantly, I had dinner with national cycling coach John Beasley and his lovely wife Vicki. A day later I followed John to meet Azizulhasni Awang, Josiah Ng and Fatehah Mustapha who are currently training in Melbourne.


Also, I got my hands on a report conducted by two Australians who were in Malaysia recently. And they had plenty to say about the National Sports Council. Very interesting comments I must add.


More will be revealed as the articles will be published in Mailsport in days to come.

Popular posts from this blog

From 'Mr P' to 'Kemelut Dalaman BAM': Four chapters of 'mesej Whatsapp layang'

Image
Surat layang , or rather ' mesej Whatsapp (or some will pronounce as Wasup) layang '. That was what I received this afternoon from a number that is not registered on my phone. The sender identified him/herself as " ahli yg memerhati tingkah laku BAM " (Badminton Association of Malaysia). The four chapters were titled as:  'Siapa dia Tan Sri BAM "Mr P"' Perletakan Jawatan Presiden BAM 'Siapa Tengku Zafrul' Kemelut Dalaman BAM There were many allegations to which the sender justified as not " fitnah " but " hakikat apa yg berlaku ". The four chapters highlights Mr P's "connection kuat ", goes into why Tengku Zafrul was named as the incoming BAM president, and takes issue with the establishment of 'Yayasan Badminton Nasional' and Akademi Badminton Malaysia. The writer (unsure if the sender is also the writer) also wrote that ' majority in the Council dalam BAM semua tak berani buat laporan sebab tak
Read more

Pelepasan cukai tambahan untuk pembelian alatan sukan, sewaan fasiliti sukan antara cadangan untuk Bajet 2024

Image
Berikut merupakan antara cadangan-cadangan Kementerian Belia dan Sukan untuk Bajet 2024 yang akan dibentangkan bulan hadapan. 1. Pengasingan sukan daripada kategori gaya hidup 2. Meneruskan dan memperluaskan inisiatif pelepasan cukai tambahan bagi aktiviti sukan berdasarkan senarai baharu 103 sukan berkuatkuasa Mac 2023 seperti berikut: 3. Pelepasan cukai tambahan sebanyak RM5,000 khusus berkaitan dengan aktiviti sukan yang dibelanjakan oleh individu bagi: • pembelian peralatan sukan untuk aktiviti sukan mengikut Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. • bayaran sewaan atau fi kemasukan ke mana-mana fasiliti sukan. • bayaran fi pendaftaran bagi penyertaan pertandingan sukan yang diluluskan di bawah Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. • Bayaran jurulatih/latihan/kelas untuk aktiviti sukan mengikut Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. Justifikasi: Impak kepada negara 1. Pembudayaan gaya hidup sihat dan aktif melalui aktiviti bersukan kepada semua peringkat sebagai pelaburan  kepada negara bagi mengurangkan beban
Read more

Ramlan saga - Part 3

UPDATE (May 23, 2012: 12.06pm): Dilema JKR, 'dua' ketua pengarah - this was brought to my attention. Read here for more. ----- I first wrote about the effort to remove National Sports Institute director general Dr Ramlan Aziz in March - as seen here . Then I wrote about the same subject again early May . I was invited to be a guest for this week's Kafe Sukan but had to decline as the recording was done on Sunday - the same day I left the country. Apparently Ramlan's predicament was discussed. Despite receiving numerous SMS-es - for and against what was discussed - I will refrain from commenting as I have yet to view the show. I have also been told there are efforts to get certain people to replace Ramlan. To me that is secondary. I have still not obtained the answers to these questions; 1. According to the NSI Act, only the minister can hire or fire the director general. Has the minister issued such a directive? 2. According to the country's Lab
Read more