KUALA LUMPUR – Kelantan has never been ruled out of being selected as a Malaysia Games (Sukma) host, former Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
Khairy, who served in the position from 2013 to 2018, said Kelantan had been offered to organise the sports event by several Sukma supreme committees after the successful organisation of the 2014 Perlis edition.
He said the host selection was made fairly during the Sukma supreme committee meeting consisting of 14 state youth and sports excos and was subject to the willingness and readiness of the selected state.
“According to the order of organising states, after the 2016 Sarawak Sukma, the organising turn would return to states on the East Coast and Kelantan, which has never organised the games before, was the main choice. But the Kelantan government at that time was not prepared to organise it due to several limitations.
“In fact, as we were making the decision to let Perak have the 2018 Sukma and Johor the 2020 Sukma, we welcomed Kelantan to consider hosting the 2022 Sukma so that the Kelantanese could be part of the sporting event,” he said in a statement today.
Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman alleged yesterday in a TikTok video that he had “returned the rights to organise” Sukma to Kelantan, without referring to any Youth and Sports Minister.
Khairy, who is the current Health Minister, commented that the statement by Syed Saddiq, who headed the Youth and Sports Ministry from 2018 to 2020, made it seem that the previous Youth and Sports Minister had denied Kelantan the right to host Sukma. – Bernama, February 21, 2022
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