KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker has urged the National Sports Council (NSC) to review the setting of monthly allowances for national athletes under their programmes for this year on a case-by-case basis.
He described the simultaneous reduction of allowances for all athletes as being impractical for athletes undergoing full-time training and without any other sources of income.
“I feel that the NSC will review them on a case-by-case basis. So, we will leave it to the NSC to study the latest development. If this actually poses a problem for the athletes, then surely the NSC will look into it and show their concern,” he told reporters after launching the Malaysian Esports Championship (MEC) Finals 2021/2022 here today.
On Wednesday (January 4), NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail announced that the restructuring of allowance was being carried out following the current state of the country’s economy affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the natural disaster that hit the country recently.
It will result in the SEA Games and Asean Para Games gold medallists receiving monthly allowances of RM2,000, while the silver and bronze medallists will receive RM800. Athletes who do not get a medal but are still listed in the NSC training programmes will get RM800 while the backup athletes receive RM500.
As for athletes who won medals in the Asian Games/Asian Para Games and the Commonwealth Games, the gold medallists are set to receive RM4,500 followed by RM4,000 (silver) and RM3,500 (bronze), while RM7,500 awaits the gold medallist of the Olympic/Paralympic Games followed by RM7,000 (silver) and RM6,000 (bronze).
Meanwhile, Ti also explained that not all athletes were fully reliant fully on the allowances as they had other jobs and, as such, the allowances were just an added incentive.
“For example, if they are teachers, they will still get their salary besides getting the additional allowance from the NSC. Apart from that, they also get free food and accommodation at the NSC (for those staying at the NSC),” he said.
He said the decision to slash the allowance was made based on the reduction in budget and sponsorship for the NSC.
Meanwhile, a total of 22 teams and four individual players are set to compete in the three-day MEC Finals 2021/2022 that began today and will vie for the RM100,000 cash prize, having cleared the three-week qualifying and playoff stages.
Four games are being contested, namely Fifa 22, Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile. — Bernama
