Sports Commissioner hauled up for saying Malaysia should not host 2026 Commonwealth Games
Malaysia’s grand plan to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games continues to hog the limelight for the wrong reasons, with a top government official being hauled up by his ministry for his views against the Southeast Asian nation hosting the multisport event.
This morning, Sports Commissioner Suhardi Alias was hauled up by the Youth and Sports Ministry, and told to explain himself. The Sports Commissioner’s Office is an agency under the ministry.
Suhardi was quoted by local media on March 12, when he slammed the proposal for Malaysia to host the upcoming edition of the Games, calling it “shocking, financially risky, and short-sighted”.
Victoria, Australia, withdrew as host last year, saying that the Games’ budget had skyrocketed to almost A$7 billion (RM21.69 billion) – double the anticipated economic benefits. Initially, the cost of hosting the Games in Victoria had been put at A$2.6 billion.
It is also understood that Suhardi was informed that he was no longer allowed to issue statements that were “unrelated to his office”.
Twentytwo13 contacted Suhardi, but he declined comment.
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, on March 11, confirmed that Malaysia had been offered the opportunity to host the 2026 Games, following Victoria’s withdrawal.
Norza said that the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had offered Malaysia an investment of £100 million (RM602 million) to support the local delivery and legacy planning of the event. It was reported that Australia would pay a A$380 million (RM1.17 billion) penalty to CGF for withdrawing as host.
In his March 12 interview, Suhardi said that the £100 million investment “would not cover the cost of hosting the Games”, and questioned why Malaysia was not offered the full A$380 million penalty Australia is paying to CGF. Suhardi went on further and cited the case of the city of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, which went bankrupt after hosting the 2022 Games.
He also wondered if there was enough time to get the facilities ready.
OCM secretary-general Datuk Nazifuddin Najib hit out at Suhardi, accusing him of undermining Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh. Nazifuddin was quoted as saying that the Sports Commissioner “has undermined our efforts to host an international event”, and that “Suhardi should observe the chain of command”.
Twentytwo13, earlier this week, weighed the pros and cons of Malaysia hosting the 2026 Games.
Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1998. It was a sporting success, but in 2004, then Youth and Sports minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, announced that Sukom 98 Bhd had finally closed its accounts, posting a loss of RM11.6 million.
However, in 2010, Sukom 98 executive chairman Datuk Nik Mahmud Nik Yusuf revealed that the company couldn’t close the accounts as it had pending court cases and required more time to settle its debts.
The same was seen when Kuala Lumpur hosted the 2017 SEA Games. Neither a detailed report nor accounts have been made public to date, leaving taxpayers wondering how the money was spent.
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