KUCHING: Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has welcomed the Football Association of Sarawak’s (FAS) proposal for a state government subsidiary to take over the management of Sarawak United’s administration.
He said this was a good proposal but it needed to be scrutinised in depth as it involved subsidiaries under the state government.
“There must be a willing buyer and seller as we cannot put it to the state government to just adopt it as this involves companies.
“But this is a good suggestion because all league competitions in Malaysia involve companies that are willing to fund them, and they no longer involve the state government,” he said at a press conference here today.
He was commenting on FAS’ recent proposal for subsidiaries under the state government to purchase shares in Sarawak United and subsequently control the management and administration of the three teams under it.
The proposal was presented by FAS president Datuk Posa Majais and he hoped it could be considered and approved by the state government to ease the high financial burden of FAS.
When asked to comment on another matter, namely Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s recent announcement that tourism activities were now allowed in areas under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO), Abdul Karim said this was the standard operating procedure (SOP) and situation in West Malaysia.
“In Sarawak, we have the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), and for each relaxation like this, we will screen. There are some that we follow and there are some which we do not,” said the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister.
“We will see how the federal government does it and we will adjust it according to our needs.”
For instance, he said crowds of spectators were still not allowed for competitions and championships.
Nevertheless, Abdul Karim said SDMC would monitor current developments as the situation progressed.
