Appreciate what's given!

November 28, 2018

RM5,000 or RM3,000, pride in representing state that counts: Abdul Karim

KUCHING: Six Sarawak athletes who brought home gold from the Perak Sukma Games last September are unhappy that they have not been duly rewarded by the Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS).

One of them, national hammer throw national record holder Grace Wong, claimed in a Facebook posting that the gold medal winners were given cash incentives of only RM3,000 each when initially they were promised RM5,000 for every gold medal.

Sharing her disappointment were Johnny Ling Siew (hammer). Queenie Ting Kung Ni and Abdul Rahman Lee (discus), Mohd Rizzua Haizad Muhamad (110 metres hurdles) and Quek Lee Yong (400 metres) who also received RM3,000 each.

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Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah when asked to comment on the six athletes' dissatisfaction, said MSNS was just being fair to all the medal winners.

"We can;t please everyone but we must be seen to be fair in our distribution of incentives to all our medallists. 

"In the previous Sukma Games, Sarawak gave RM5,000 to each gold medallist, RM750 to the silver medallist and RM500 to the bronze medal winner.

But the incentive gap between the gold medallists and silver and bronze medallists was very side even though all of them gave their best," he said yesterday.

Added Abdul Karim: "Therefore, this year, in order to be fair the silver and bronze medallists, the Sarawak government agreed to review the incentives after taking into consideration the incentives that were given by other states which performed better than us.

He noted that Terengganu and Selangor for instance, decided to adopt more or less the same amount of incentives, namely, RM3,000 for gold, RM2,000 (silver) and RM1,000 (bronze).

"Terengganu were the overall champions of Sukma Perak. I hope the athletes will not question the amount as we have looked at every angle before deciding on the incentives.

"The athletes should feel proud that they are given the opportunity to represent Sarawak and are competing to gain glory for their beloved State and not solely for any monetary incentives," he said.

Abdul Karim said whatever incentives given should be looked upon as "rewards" from the state, adding their contribution to Sarawak was very much appreciated and could not be valued in ringgit and sen.

"The gold medallists might not be happy but I am sure the silver and bronze medallists are happy. They are fighters for the state too.

"What about those who did not end up on the podium and did not get any medals or incentives?

"They also worked hard to represent Sarawak but because they did not end up as podium finishers, they are somehow forgotten.

"Hopefully, all athletes who receive the incentives are appreciative and thankful no matter how small they may be.

"And for the record, athletes who set new record were given an additional RM1,000." he said. -NewSarawakTribune