KUALA LUMPUR – Despite garnering numerous accolades in the dancesport world and being registered under the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), the Malaysia DanceSport Federation’s (MYDF) repeated requests to become an Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) member has been consistently turned down.
The dancesport situation in Malaysia right now is highly perplexing. At this moment, only the Malaysian DanceSport Berhad (MDSB), and not MYDF, is the sole dancesport entity registered with OCM.
However, MDSB is not recognised as the national body for dancesport in Malaysia by WDSF or Dancesport Asia, which work in tandem with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
Under the WDSF Competition Rules, all athletes are required to be affiliated to a WDSF member body in order to possess an athlete ID-card.
Since only MYDF is registered with WDSF, this means their athletes are able to possess an athlete ID-card. On the other hand, MDSB athletes aren’t able to procure one as their organisation is not registered as a WDSF member.
The conundrum clearly goes against the OCM’s constitution, which states in Article 9.2 that: “Each application for Membership shall be supported by a certified true copy of its certificate of registration with the Commissioner of Sports or the Registrar of Societies or the Registrar of Companies, a certified true copy of Proof of Affiliation with its International Federation controlling that sport, a copy of its Constitution, details of its membership, activities, latest audited financial statement and a list of current office-bearers”
Over the years, MYDF has sent in several requests to be registered as a member of OCM but despite their relentless efforts, OCM’s response has been the same.
“The Malaysian DanceSport Berhad is already a member of good standing of OCM. As such, we cannot admit another member from the same sport,” was the response from OCM honorary secretary Dato Sieh Kok Chi to MYDF in 2013 when inquired over the matter.
During the preparation for the Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan back in 2017, MYDF had to abide by certain criteria imposed by OCM and MDSB if they wished to send a team for the event.
Amongst the conditions were one of the two athlete pairs sent for the competition must be from MDSB, MYDF was required to register the MDSB athletes for the event using the WDSF-issued athlete-ID numbers, and MYDF must share their knowledge with MDSB members regarding WDSF’s rules and regulations for the competition.
This led to MYDF members feeling downhearted to compete in the tournament unless they complied with these conditions. MYDF had no choice but to replace their second-ranked pair with athletes sent from MDSB as instructed by OCM.
MDSB was once a member of WDSF until 2009, when they were removed from being affiliated with the international federation due to technical reasons.
Recently, MYDF was informed that MDSB would contact WDSF to have their affiliation with the international federation resolved.
Thus, if MDSB succeeds in becoming a proper member of WDSF, they would then be the sole National Body Member, and MYDF would be dropped from the international federation.
However, in a reply to an MYDF enquiry, WDSF general secretary Sergey Nifontov said, “we have not received any communication other than those from our NMB (National Member Body).”
NMB here refers to MYDF as they are the only body registered with WDSF since 2012.
Giving his thought on the matter, OCM secretary-general Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib says the process is underway for MDSB to be removed and be replaced with MYDF.
“The first step in this process is to remove MDSB as a member which is a slow process.
“The constitution doesn’t allow us to remove a member just like that, there is no clear way to take them out,” he said.
Even though the constitution states that a national body must be affiliated with the international federation, Nazifuddin says the constitution is worded “loosely” regarding the matter.
“According to our legal advice, the main way to have MDSB removed is to go back to the constitution and make changes, which requires an Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will be in March 2022,”
“So now we are going back to the process of refining our constitution, we have to make a proper clause and we are still discussing this with our legal side on the best way to remove our members that have lost their affiliation with the international body.
“We are also renewing the criteria to become a member of OCM so that moving forward, we don’t have all these issues,” he added.
MYDF deputy president John Fam says the treatment that MYDF has been subjected to by OCM is unfair.
“There is no reason for them not to register us as a member as we have all the reason to be the national body representing dancesport (in the country) as we are the only ones registered with WDSF.
“We meet all the criteria and have all the proper credentials to be representing the country.
“But for so many years, we’ve been on the receiving end of this unfair treatment from OCM while they maintain MDSB as the national body, even though it goes against their own constitution.” – The Vibes, February 12, 2022
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