KUALA LUMPUR – The Youth and Sports Ministry today announced the establishment of a sports disputes committee (SDC) to hear and resolve conflicts referred to by any member of a sports body or by the sports body itself.
“The SDC is an independent committee that is responsible to listen and resolve any disputes referred to it when a dispute in a sports body cannot be resolved internally using the Sports Development Regulations (Internal Procedures for Dispute Resolution in Sports Bodies) 2022.
“Accordingly, the ministry has enacted the Sports Development Regulations (Sports Disputes Committee) 2022 with the aim of empowering sports bodies in managing and resolving internal disputes of sports bodies, including athletes, transparently, fairly and quickly without any interference from the government, or the ministry, especially the minister’s involvement,” said the ministry in a statement.
The SDC will be chaired by Datuk Low Beng Choo, who is World Baseball-Softball Confederation secretary-general and Softball Asia president, and four members appointed by Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
The four are:
- Datuk Amarjit Singh Gill, management board member of the International Cycling Union and Malaysian National Cycling Federation vice-president;
- Professor Jady @ Zaidi bin Hassim, dean of the Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, specialising in sports law and governance;
- Professor Datuk K. S. Shamala, professor at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysian Association for Empowering Sports Politics, Education, Communication and Sports Technology president, and former Malaysian Hockey Confederation deputy president; and
- Sharon Wee, former national squash player, Squash Racket Association of Malaysia vice-president, and deputy chef de mission to the Cambodia SEA Games 2023.
“The establishment and appointment of the SDC will be able to help resolve any disputes between sports bodies in a transparent and professional manner,” the ministry said.
“The Youth and Sports Ministry is committed to ensuring that unresolved sports body dispute issues are simplified for the sake of national sports development,” it added. – The Vibes, July 3, 2023
