KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria wants to empower the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) to play a bigger role in the country’s sports arena now that he has been returned unopposed to the president’s post for the 2021-2025 term.

He does not want the OCM to be considered as just a travel agent for athletes to go to multi-sports Games but to also be involved in development and planning, especially for major Games like the Olympics.

Norza also wants to give priority to continuing efforts to create a pension scheme for Olympians and see how relevant the location of the OCM office (Wisma OCM) is to the National Sports Associations (NSAs).

"I think we need to find (out) whether this building is still relevant for stakeholders. We need a place that may be more accessible to all our stakeholders. For example, the NSAs will have a modern place for them to be with us and with training facilities for their athletes.

"We also need to hold courses, conferences and so on in a more modern and conducive environment. We have also seen the FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) model that will be based in Putrajaya that is equipped with training facilities,” he said at a media conference at Wisma OCM here today.

The nine-storey Wisma OCM, which was built in 1991 in Jalan Hang Jebat here, houses the OCM office and several sports associations, besides having other facilities like a hall as well as the Olympic Hotel that is managed by a third party.

Meanwhile, Norza also wants to continue working closely with all parties, including new Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu in carrying on with the planning for several major Games, such as the SEA Games, Commonwealth Games and Asiad next year as well as the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"Welcome new Sports Minister, we hope we can work together to bring sports to greater heights. We hope we can discuss the 2020 Tokyo Olympics post-mortem with him, improve the plans moving forward and immediately rectify whatever weaknesses we have (so as to) bring improvements to whatever is needed.

"With the Paris Olympics just three years away, we have to immediately work on the roadmap for Paris 2024,” said Norza, who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president.

He also congratulated Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, who won the deputy president’s post unopposed as well as Moira Tan (assistant secretary-general) and Datuk Ahmad Feisal Ahmad Tajuddin (treasurer) who were both returned unopposed ahead of the September 4 OCM election.

Hamidin, who is also the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president, said he would carry out the responsibility and trust placed on him to the best of his ability and that he was ready to serve OCM. — Bernama