YOURSAY | Norza, IOC accreditations should benefit athletes, not family

YOURSAY | ‘How did your wife and son contribute to M’sia’s sporting chances?’

OCM chief defends family from online attacks, to leave BAM earlier

VioletOrca0545: Did Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Norza Zakaria, who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president, break the rules when he decided to use his special accreditation cards issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bring his own family to the Paris 2024 Olympics?

Of course not. But knowing the athletes are short on allocation cards, why didn’t he take the sacrificial step and used his allocation to bring more support personnel to Paris?

Norza, stop acting like you are the bigger man for stepping down because your family got cyberbullied. You should be ashamed of your conduct and step down.

Hmm: I find it rather strange that Malaysia can’t seem to get enough accreditation cards for all our coaches. Other countries seem to be able to get all their coaches to the Games with no problems.

Just look at the athletics events, such as the women’s high jump. After every jump, the athletes would proceed to the stands to consult with their coaches.

There must be countless coaches in the stands for all the athletes from different countries.

So why are we not able to secure an extra one or two accreditation cards for badminton coaches? Are OCM and BAM not insistent enough?

Cogito Ergo Sum: Norza, it’s not your family that’s being scrutinised. It’s you and your sense of entitlement.

You said you were allowed one accompanying guest. You brought two.

If you are a nationalist, you should have given your extra seat to one of the coaches who would have contributed immensely to ‘bangsa dan negara’ (the nation) and Malaysia’s success.

You say you do not receive a salary. Good. But is taking your family on this trip to compensate for not getting a salary?

That’s not a sacrifice. That’s being an opportunist. How did your wife and son contribute to Malaysia’s sporting chances?

You should be probed by MACC and IOC at a time when Malaysians are struggling with an unprecedented high cost of living.

Anonymous9483: BAM has long been in a pathetic state.

Given how much badminton means to ordinary Malaysians and has always been our best bet to achieve the elusive Olympic gold, all the more BAM should make sacrifices to accommodate our badminton players.

Don’t give flimsy excuses like players not under BAM’s purview do not receive additional accreditation to bring their teams along.

On that note, the youth and sports minister also needs to bear some responsibiliy as this happened under her watch.

Her ministry kept emphasising on the Road to Gold programme, but could not even fork out additional allocation for professional badminton players like Lee Zii Jia and Goh Jin Wei to bring their teams.

Koel: Why is it so difficult for Malaysian officials to maintain decorum and professionalism when asked to account to the people?

Do they consider themselves feudal lords, beholden to none? Once again, all this man has to do is answer some simple questions. Instead, we get a hissy fit and diva behaviour.

Here are the three simple questions that are baffling the public:

1. Who paid the expenses of the trip for his family?

2. Why was the card allocation not prioritised for coaches and trainers?

3. Why on earth did shuttler Lee’s team have to pay for the trip themselves while the expenses for 40 officials and possibly an official’s family appear to have been borne by taxpayers?

Lee was the one who had to fight for the bronze medal.

MarioT: There appeared to be many cases of abuse of funds and facilities by officials in the past, thus you cannot blame anyone for suspecting the same in your case.

If you have sincerely and diligently carried out your duties, then there is nothing to worry about.

Public perception is not always right. Stay on as BAM chief, no need to resign.

You have offered your explanations and vindicated yourself.

TC: Norza is credited for removing the ban on Lee and Goh, resulting in these two participating in the Paris Olympics.

He was asked to stay on as BAM president when he wanted to resign.

His maturity and leadership will be missed from the current useless political faction running BAM.

The Youth and Sports Ministry should do an overhaul of this board if we want to improve our standard of badminton or players should be brave enough to strike out on their own.

MyMY: BAM should replace the current board with good, experienced people. Former badminton champions like Lee Chong Wei, Misbun Sidek and Jalani Sidek should be onboard instead.

BAM certainly needs new blood and Yeoh had better start taking action immediately because it has an impact on her reputation as the sports minister.

Rastaman: Once you leave, Norza, BAM can at least bring back all our Malaysian coaches who are working for other countries like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand to strengthen our squad to be world class.

It was during your watch that many good coaches drifted away from BAM and Malaysia. Given the chance, they could produce world champions.

Dr Suresh Kumar: Yesterday, Norza said he had a personal quota, now he says he paid for his family’s trip.

Which is which? If you want to help bring glory and pride to the nation, then why was Goh’s coach not there? Is this leadership by example?

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.