Cabinet or Badminton? Zafrul can’t have his cake and eat it too

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, CABINET MINISTERS ARE NO SUPERHEROES …

KL 8 Nov: The blog called nuclearmanbursa is saying what’s on the minds of many: why is the leadership of BAM, the main body for the country’s badminton, being passed from one politician to another as if it’s the birthright of politicians and only politicians to head BAM?

I’m reproducing nuclearmanbursa’s entire posting here because Netizens can no longer assess his blog. The MCMC, the institution that regulates blogs and social media in this country, recently decided to block nuclearmanbursa for reasons best known to themselves. Something for another posting another day. 

For now, here is the full nuclearmanbursa’s article on the boarding of positions in the Badminton Association of Malaysian. (I have dropped the last para of his posting to protect myself against potential lawsuits). 

Of course I’ve got something mroe to say about this, immediately below this posting.

Monday, 6 November 2023

Badminton Association of Malaysia, the house of un electable politicians

BACK in early 2023, Ganjar Pranowo looked all set to be the shoe in candidate to win next year's election and assume the presidency of Indonesia. READ :  Ganjar Pranowo is the most popular candidate to replace Jokowi as the next President of Indonesia.

AND then just like that, the most popular active politician in Indonesia,  saw his popularity go down the drain when  he poked his nose in the world of sports, causing Indonesia to lose the opportunity  to host the 2023 Under 20 FIFA World Cup.  

READ :  Ganjarer , Koster made into pariahs over U-20 cancellation.

The moral of the story is politicians should keep their nose out of sports, because the underlying feeling is that they are out to use and abuse sporting associations for their own politicial use, ie to bolster their own political standing.

Take, for instance, Tengku Zafrul's recent coup in

 being annoited  READ : as the next Badminton Association of Malaysia President, taking over from the failed politician Norza Zakaria.

We all know Tengku Zafrul as a Liverpool loving football fan, and not as somebody who has the well being of Badminton in the country at heart.

Tengku Zafrul has too much on his plate already as the minister in charge of MITI and too many issues that could blow up on his face and embarrass Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, for him to even remotely be the ideal choice to lead badminton to a new era.

ROCKY’s BRU comments:

Totally agree with nuclearmanbursa. Tengku Zafrul is hardly in the country because he has a big responsibility to Anwar Ibrahim’s government and to this country. Humongous responsibility to bring in the investment that will create jobs and wealth and spur the economy. Right now he is in San Francisco, or on the way there, to attend the ministerial meeting of APEC, ahead of PM Anwar Ibrahim’s participation in the grouping’s Summit on 15-17 Nov. 

You can count how many days in a month Zafrul is in the country. How can he possibly take on another huge responsibility which could take up even more time than his MITI portfolio? 

What was he thinking when he accepted outgoing BAM President Norza Zakaria’s appointment?

And what was Norza thinking? His tenure as BAM chief may have been smashing, or not, depending on who you’re talking to. I’m not qualified to judge. But I can say with some certainty that Norza did neither BAM nor Zafrul any favour by ‘anointing’ the MITI Minister as his successor. 

I am not saying that ALL politicians should be denied or deprived the chance to lead sporting bodies. But serving MPs and Cabinet Ministers should say NO. They have enough on their plates. 

 In Zafrul’s case, his job as MITI Minister is too important and too big for the wellbeing of our economy for him to even entertain Norza’s suggestion that he was the right man for the BAM job. 

Stop kidding us. Stop kidding yourselves. BAM needs someone who can give 100 percent of his or her time and energy to the further development of badminton and its never-ending politics and polemics. 

The only way Zafrul can be that someone is if he decides to quit Anwar Ibrahim’s Cabinet.