Naming MySC'19 in English not meant to degrade national language

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Steven Sim Chee Kiong (photo, above) said the ministry's decision to name its new month-long sports and fitness programme "Malaysia Sports Challenge 2019 (MySC’19)" in English was not in any way an insult of the Malay national language.

Steven said on the other hand, it was aimed at reaching a wider audience as the ministry takes another step to transform the country into a sporting nation.

He said naming it in English will attract the involvement of the international sports sector, adding more prestige to the programme.

“We have many international sporting brands with customer market over here and we want to attract their attention and participation in the programme,” he told reporters when met at a Hi-Tea event with sponsors here today.

MySC’19 would be an upgrade to the National Sports Day (NSD) as the programme will take place throughout October, as opposed to the NSD which is celebrated with fitness activities organised on the second Saturday of October annually.

The programme is the brainchild of Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and targets participation of five million people, of which 154,925 participants were from the federal level, 2,649,075 (state) and 2,196,000 more from the districts.

Commenting further, Sim was optimistic the use of an English name for the programme would not be a stumbling block for Malaysians to help turn it into a success.

“I see no problems as the essence (of the programme) is still Malaysian, the organisers are Malaysians, and the participants are also Malaysians.

“The brand or language does not matter, and I am sure Malaysians are not the type to find the matter odd as well,” he said. 

- Bernama