KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) has been accused of finding fault with Sports Commissioner Suhardi Alias over the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Former OCM vice president Tan Sri Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim said he is puzzled over OCM's scolding of Suhardi for giving his frank views.
Suhardi had said earlier this week Malaysia should not agree to be a replacement host for the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to the huge costs, among others.
OCM secretary-general Nazifuddin Najib had said they were disappointed with Suhardi for "jumping the gun" with his statements.
OCM has claimed that the Commonwealth Games Federation's (CGF) offer to Malaysia includes a £100 million (RM602 million) investment to support local delivery and legacy planning for the event.
The CGF turned to Malaysia after the Australian city of Victoria, which won the bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, withdrew last year, citing escalating costs which are expected to reach up to A$7 billion (RM21.7 billion).
Mohamad Noor who has more than 40 years of experience in heading various sports associations at state, national and international level, praised Suhardi for his forthrightness.
"Suhardi is an exemplary civil servant, he's doing his job. He's brave to point out the potential issues if Malaysia decides to host the Commonwealth Games. It's good to see a civil servant being concerned with how public funds are used," said Mohamad Noor.
"I believe if we have more civil servants like Suhardi, things will be much better with our country.
"We also have to keep in mind that the funding to host the games will come from the government and every cent must be accounted for."
On whether Malaysia should host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Mohamad Noor said he is against it.
He pointed out that the "unclosed account" of the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games and 2017 Sea Games as a perfect example of how things can go wrong.
There are fears that hosting the Commonwealth Games could lead to financial woes. The Birmingham City Council, which hosted the 2022 edition, reportedly went bankrupt, with costs reported to soar to £778 million (RM4.67 billion).
"The situation with Birmingham Games is a warning of what could happen and Victoria is cautious of suffering the same fate and was willing to pay (RM1.1 billion to CGF) for breaching the contract instead of spending billions to host the games," said Mohamad Noor.
"CGF offered £100 million but the costs for the last games in Birmingham were more than £500 million, and it comes to billions in our money.
"Victoria projected the costs to reach billions in Australian dollars... just imagine how much it would cost us.
"We all know the state of the Malaysian economy and taking on a big project in a short notice is risky. I don't think the public will be open to this idea too because there are other much more crucial sectors which need funding."
Mohamad Noor also stressed that it is pointless to host the Commonwealth Games if Malaysian athletes struggle to win gold medals.
"We have some of the facilities ready to host the games but do we have the athletes to win gold medals?
"The reality is the quality of our athletes has been dwindling and we are struggling to win medals even at Sea Games level. It's impossible for us to prepare world class athletes in just two years."
