Sport Commissioner disappointed SAA did not heed advice with AGM

KUALA LUMPUR − Sports Commissioner (SCO) Ibrahim Mohd Yusof has expressed his disappointment with the Selangor Athletics Association (SAA), which still went ahead with its annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday without heeding his advice.

Ibrahim said SAA’s action of not complying with the agreement reached during his meeting with the state sports body on December 8 would cause SAA to face stricter action, including the risk of being given notice − followed by a suspension − if its crisis continued.

However, he stressed that the validity of the AGM and any follow-up action to be taken against SAA could only be determined after reviewing the report that needs to be sent to the SCO in the near future.

Ibrahim said he had given three options to SAA during the meeting to resolve their problems with the first being to correct the structure or membership of the SAA before holding the AGM, which they agreed to but went unheeded.

He said that he could issue a notice to implement the correction and if this failed, take action under Section 20 of the Sports Development Act 1997 to suspend SAA but needed to study the report first. 

"We have given the opportunity, but they don’t seem to want to listen, (they) proceeded with the AGM," he told Bernama.

Previously, several SAA committee members held an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on October 24 and announced that its president Datuk S.M. Muthu was fired with his lifetime membership withdrawn, claiming he had misappropriated more than RM100,000 from a SAA fixed savings account.

The SCO, however, said the dismissal was not made through the correct channels because based on the SAA constitution, the action of suspending or dismissing members holding positions in the association could not be done through an EGM.

According to media reports, the SAA’s AGM yesterday saw former Federal Territory athlete Norhayati Karim win the post of SAA president uncontested, but it was not attended by Muthu’s camp.

Norhayati is the daughter of former Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk Karim Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, when asked about the misappropriation of funds allegation against Muthu, Ibrahim said he would wait until the police investigation was completed before considering further action. – Bernama, December 14, 2021