Nov 14, 2000
CHIAROSCURO
MGG Pillai
Don't cry for me, Doha
The 2006 Asian Games will be in Doha. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) decided upon it after four sites - Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, New Delhi - made the cut.
The Malaysian bid, however strong, would have been a miracle if it had succeeded. As usual, Malaysian officials were quick off the mark to blame others for its failure.
The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president, a lachrymose Tengku Imran Tuanku Jaffar, says Malaysia lost because India preferred Doha and campaigned for her. Malaysia, he adds melodramatically, did not lose; the Asian Games did.
But he concedes our bid was not professional enough. "We should seriously consider", he told the Press,"a different format that will not be subjected to forces beyond our control."
In other words, we fluffed yet again.
The sports facilities, built for the 1998 Commonwealth Games and breaking down with disuse, can be spruced up with a few hundred million ringgit, the enthusiasm for it can be orchestrated, but Malaysian officials, arrogant as they come, could not overcome the better presentation of the other bidders.
Superpower intrigue
But, as Tengku Imran himself admits, Malaysia did not have the right people to bid for it.
The other countries brought in their best negotiators and lobbyists, making deals with the delegates and the finalists. Ours, meanwhile, believed that the world would come to its door if we beat our drums loudly.
Our sports administrators forget that sports these days is an extension of diplomacy and superpower intrigue.
The old distinction between sports and politics, that one should not intrude into the other, disappeared in international events when the United States made nonsense of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because she disagreed with the USSR's policy towards Afghanistan.
That is not all. The Asian Games is all about money. Lots of it. Politics and the paradoxical humility not far behind. And hard work.
Sugar-coated pill
The OCM offered each OCA member US$40,000 in sports development if its bid was accepted. To drive home the point, OCM officials say this is US$30,000 more than what Thailand paid to host the 1998 Asian Games.
To sugar the pill, profits beyond what Malaysia expects would be shared with the OCA. Each national Olympic council would get 12 free return air tickets so that more countries would participate.
In other words, Malaysia decided bonuses in this form would succeed. Once this principle is accepted, as in the OCA and OCM, you can never outbid the fellow with more money than he knows what to do with it.
This is not new for our sports administrators. When the Merdeka Cup was in its heyday, the treasurer of the Football Association of Malaysia, a honorary appointment, fought to retain his post as if his wallet depended upon it. That has not changed.
Doha would build the sports complex to house the Games for US$1 billion. Look at what member countries - yes, even India - could make if Doha is the venue!
What the OCM should plan next is not to bid for the next Asian or Olympic Games but for a systematic programme to produce worldclass athletes. This is more satisfying for a nation than showing the world she can buy her way to glory.
Forget mega-events, think micro
Sports in Malaysia is for leisure and money, not for fame or records. If that comes, well and good. The hundreds of millions of ringgit spent on sports notwithstanding.
For that to change, Malaysia must return to its past, when individual effort more than official dictate determined how good she would be in sports.
But for that, the sports officials, not just in OCM, should be more concerned about individual athletes than questionable fame as a host of an international athletics meet.
For that to take fruit, sports facilities cannot all be in the Klang Valley; not expensive facilities but decent ones in more places where they can be used by more people.
Look at how Thailand and Indonesia prepared, and still do, for the Thomas Cup: a systematic training programme which throws up worldclass players from areas other than Bangkok and Jakarta.
We have had it by drumming up questionable interest in the Asian Games for an entry in the Malaysian Book of Records. So long as do, we shall remain marginal in the world of sports, even in Malaysia.
MGG PILLAI is a freelance columnist. He also runs the Sangkancil discussion group.
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