Dato Sieh Kok Chi is what one will call the elder statesman of Malaysian Sports.
I am sharing his Facebook posting as I find it very honest and thought provoking.
Most of the sports to be contested or rather the events were decided by the powers that be within OCM, ISN, NSC.
This of course includes the highly paid foreign expertise that have taken over the Podium Program.
This grand old man has declared that he is willing to resign from all sports positions should Malaysia do not emerge as overall Champions at the 2017 SEA Games.
Will the Director General of NSC and his officers, the ISN Chief Executive Officer, and the OCM Secretary General be willing to vacate their positions should we fail?
Many associations have not received their finding or approvals for their programs as they are told to wait for confirmation of the sport or event at the July 13 SEA GF meeting.
But some have got funding for their Athletes since April although that sport is now no longer in the initial list
Why this double standards? Simply put the Minister failed to check the continuous rise of the little Napoleons within the NSC.
And as far as the Podium Program is concerned, can we tell the foreign legion to "PODAH" ( leave in Tamil) should we fail to better our 2012 Olympic Haul minus what Chong Wei, Pandelela and Azizul win as they are Athletes already in our system before the invasion of these so called saviour a of Malaysian sports.
Read on what Kok Chi wrote...
29th SEA Games – Proposed Final Sports and Events
I carried out an analysis based on the gold medal tally of the Singapore 28th SEA Games 2015, in early July 2015, soon after the Closing Ceremony. The objective of my study was to identify the list of sports and events that should be included in the 29th SEA Games that Malaysia is hosting in 2017, in order to become overall champion.
My analysis showed that 5 sports that are in the 28th SEA Games Programme should be removed from the 29th SEA Games Programme, as they are not popular and have limited development programmes in Malaysia over the past two decades. These sports are Canoeing (17 events), Floorball (2 events), Rowing (18 events), Softball (2 events), and Traditional Boat Race (8 events). In addition to the above reason, the National Sports Associations of Floorball and Traditional Boat Race are not affiliated to OCM.
By the exclusion of the above 5 sports, a total of 47 events were eliminated, out of which Malaysia did not win a single gold medal in Singapore, and would have lost only 2 bronze medals. Hence it is really efficient from Malaysia’s stand point to exclude the 5 sports and 47 events.
In addition to the exclusion of the above sports, I had also proposed the removal of 4 disciplines with a total of 14 events. The disciplines are Chinelone (4 events deleted), Keel Boat (4 events), Precision Shooting (4 events), and Sanda (2 events).
I have also proposed reductions of some events in the following 6 sports, Billiards & Snooker (4 events), Fencing (4 events), Petanque (4 events), Taekwondo (3 Poomsae), Squash (1 Jumbo Events) and Wushu (4 events). The total number of events to be reduced was 22.
The total number of events to be removed was 83. Of these 83 events, Malaysia did not win a single gold medal. On the other hand, Thailand gold tally dropped from 95 to 76, a loss of 19 gold medals. Singapore’s gold medal tally was reduced to 67, Vietnam’s gold medal tally became 63 and Indonesia’s gold medal tally was 32. Malaysia’s gold medal tally remained unchanged at 62.
To replace the 5 sports that had been dropped, I had suggested the inclusion of 6 sports, namely Karate, Weightlifting, Lawn Bowls, and the inclusion of Cricket, Ice Hockey and Ice Skating, with the possibility of the inclusion of Bodybuilding and Judo. The total number of sports in the 29th SEA Games will be 37 or 38. I have also suggested the inclusion of inclusion of Track Cycling, and increasing the events in Rhythmic Gymnastics, Squash, etc., where appropriate.
The total number of new events to be included was 78 making a total of 409 events, an increase of 7 events of the Singapore 28th SEA Games. Out of these 78 new events, Malaysia is projected to win around 46 events, making the projected gold medal tally of Malaysia at the 29th SEA Games to be 108.
Of the remaining 32 events, Thailand is projected to win about 16, which will make Thailand’s projected gold medal tally to be 92. The balance of 16 gold medals will be shared by Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippine.
I am very happy to see that 37 sports suggested by me have been included in the final list of 38 sports, My suggestion for Bodybuilding was replaced by Muay, My suggestion for around 409 events, is 6 events more than the 403 events approved. My target of 109 gold medals for the Malaysian Contingent to achieve will only be proven right or wrong, come 31st August 2017. I have also promised to resign from all involvement in Malaysian sport, should Malaysia failed to top the overall gold medal tally in the 29th SEA Games 2017.
