KUALA LUMPUR – The cabinet has banned ministers, deputy ministers, and MPs from holding any position in sports associations.
The decision was made during today’s cabinet meeting.
This decision has ended Natural Resources and Environmental Stability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil’s bid to take over the Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) president’s post.
At a post-cabinet meeting press conference today, Fahmi noted that the ban is not new as the prohibition was initially established in 2007.
“Today’s decision is for us to continue the practice of non-involvement (from ministers and their deputies in sports association posts). There will be no exceptions,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nik Nazmi said that the prohibition is applicable to government “administrative members,” which includes ministers and their deputies.
“Therefore, I accept the decision and am withdrawing from the race for the KLFA presidency,” Nik Nazmi, who is also a PKR vice-president, said in a social media post.
He added that he will continue to support KLFA in developing a healthy football ecosystem, as well as KL City FC, while continuing to be a patron of Setiawangsa Rangers – the KLFA-affiliated football club he founded in 2018.
It was previously reported that Nik Nazmi’s opponent for the KLFA presidency post would be Fahmi, whose “team” included Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s political-secretary Azman Abidin as a contestant for the association’s secretary post.
Yesterday, KLFA acting president Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid confirmed that the association is now under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Abdullah Sani, who assumed the acting president role after the resignation of former Federal Territories minister Khalid Abdul Samad last March, said the elections were set for September 7.
However, KLFA’s nomination box was confiscated by MACC officials yesterday after the association lodged a report with the graft busters on Monday, following accusations of vote-buying among candidates. – August 28, 2024