Foul!

The Attorney-General's Chambers has declared a NFA (No Further Action) on the investigation papers (IP) into the failure of Klang City International Marathon organiser to obtain a licence or apply for one from the Sports Commissioner to hold the event last December. The NST quoted  Klang Selatan district police chief Assistant Commissioner Shamsul Amar Ramli  as saying:  "The order was done on the directive of the Attorney-General with the reason that Section 36(1) of the Sports Development Act 1997 is not an offence that can be accusable and it was subsequently classified NFA,"  Read the full report here . Let's dissect the quote. " ... with the reason that Section 36(1) of the Sports Development Act 1997 is not an offence that can be accusable."  The AGC may have come to that conclusion because Section 36 does not specify that not having the appropriate license is an offence.  But .... Section 39 of the Sports Development Act reads...

As published in Malay Mail today Going Nuts By Graig Nunis   MERDEKA is just over a month away and Malaysia Day a further 16 days down the road. To most Malaysians Aug 31 is the bigger celebration and it was only since 2010 that Malaysia Day became a public holiday — even though this is when we truly became the nation we are today following the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak. Shouldn’t we be celebrating this on a grander scale? So it is not hard to sympathise with the organisers of the Sarawak Freedom and Independent Walk on July 22 who are pressing for the state to make that date a public holiday to celebrate the day Sarawak was granted independence by the British colonial rulers in 1963. However, as usually is the case when it involves east Malaysians, many have jumped on the bandwagon and there were reports some wanted to misuse the event to talk about Sarawak seceding from Malaysia. And as usual, the police, led by IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, hav...

UPDATE March 8, 2013 (9.36am) : Here is an email by FC Barcelona about the matter -   Dear Sir, Thanks a lot for your communication and for  your interest in our club with regards to our visit to Malaysia this summer. Briefly we will do the official announcement of the match and then we will take the opportunity to give all the details around this visit. We thanks again for your interest and we remain at your disposal for further enquires. Best Regards Chemi Terés International Communications Press and Communications Department --------- It is supposed to be the most anticipated visit. Spanish giants Barcelona are set to play in Malaysia on August 10 as published on the official website . Malaysia will be their final leg of the Asian Tour as the Catalans visit China on August 3 and Thailand four days later. Here's the twist. FA of Malaysia (FAM) were earlier clueless about Barcelona's visit to the country.  Yesterday, the national ...

The first paragraph of the act reads; An Act to promote and facilitate the development and administration of sports in Malaysia and to provide for matters incidental thereto. The next question would be, what has been achieved from this act? Hmm.... Having read all Acts related to sports in the country many times in the past, I decided to flip through the Sports Development Act 1997 again last night. I was prompted to revisit the act after reading a Bernama report that said the Olympic Council of Malaysia will form a special committee to study and give their input on a proposal to amend the act. Here are some of the sections that could be looked at; 19. Grounds for refusal of registration (1) The Commissioner may refuse to issue a certificate of registration to a sports body unless - (a) he is satisfied that such sports body is a non-political organi z ation for the promotion and development  of a sport in Malaysia; or You may ask why just 'he' and why no sh...

That could be a reality judging by the initiative of Youth and Sports deputy minister Gan Ping Sieu ( pic ). Being the only Media representative at Wisma KBS in Putrajaya yesterday, I was privileged to listen and share my views on ways the government can aid sports entrepreneurs and enthusiasts expand our current sports industry. Ideas proposed during the meeting will be considered before they are incorporated in the 2013 Budget which will be announced in September. Many at the meeting shared one thing in common - wanting funds from the government. Many shared their views and some were rather emotional, forgetting the subject of the meeting. Nevertheless, Ping Sieu was quick to add "he appreciated the feedback" as it was an "eye opener". I suggested several items that could be part of the 2013 Budget. 1. Tax reliefs or incentives for financial institutions that hand out soft loans to young sports entrepreneurs and those wanting to organise tournaments. T...