KUALA LUMPUR – The Sports Writers Association of Malaysia (SAM) have expressed disappointment at the way Perak head coach Datuk Lim Teong Kim treated a media staffer after the Super League match between Perak FC and Johor Darul Ta’zim FC (JDT) at Perak Stadium in Ipoh yesterday.
SAM president Norismadi Abd Manap said that even though Teong Kim is a coach with extensive experience in Europe, he was unfriendly when answering two simple questions that the assistant producer of a private television station threw at him immediately after the match.
“(His) body language and the way he faced the media for those two simple questions were very negative in SAM’s view. The media understand the coach’s situation and emotions after suffering a big defeat, but we are just doing our jobs.
‘Don’t make the media a target to vent your anger because we don’t interfere in any matters in your team and have no personal agenda,” he said today.
Norismadi said the media’s role is to convey information, and they should not accept the treatment given by the former Mokhtar Dahari Football Academy director and Bayern Munich junior squad coach.
In yesterday’s clash, JDT humiliated Perak 5-0 which saw Teong Kim’s boys suffer their third consecutive defeat.
The big defeat apparently affected Teong Kim, who reacted in a less than friendly way to the assistant producer on duty during the interview session broadcast live after the match, including asking him to make his own assessment and find his own answers to the questions given.
Perak are currently 10th in the league with five points, after only managing to record one win and two draws out of seven matches played. – Bernama, April 5, 2023
