Abd Karim: Sarawak scheduled to present Sukma medallists’ incentives on Sept 14

KUCHING (Aug 26): The presentation of incentives to Sarawakian athletes who won medals during the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma XXI) is scheduled to take place during an appreciation dinner on Sept 14, said Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

The Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister said the date was selected based on the availability of Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.

“We’ve just received this information last night. So, the Premier had said the appreciation dinner is to be held as soon as possible – but we’ve been checking on his schedule and he is very, very busy as he has a number of overseas trips.

“He will only be available on Sept 14, so I was informed on this last night. So, the ceremony will be held on Sept 14 where we will be rewarding those podium finishers – unless there are some changes from the Premier’s Office.

“With about 20 days from now, we have good time for us to do the preparations as we want it to be done as a grand occasion,” he told a press conference for the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Awards (SHTA) in Petra Jaya here this afternoon.

Abdul Karim said the total amount of incentives will be announced by Sarawak Financial Secretary’s Office during the ceremony.

He said although incentives for individual athletes would be straightforward, there would be variations for team winners.

Incentives for individual Sarawak medallists are RM15,000 for gold, RM5,000 for silver, and RM3,000 for bronze.

“For example, the gold medallists in a team event should not be getting less than RM3,000 each athlete; for silver, it will not be less than RM 2,000, and for bronze, not less than RM1,000.

“We’ve arranged it this way because, for instance, in volleyball, which involves 12 players, dividing RM 5,000 among them would result in only a few hundred ringgit per player.

“Therefore, the Sarawak government will top it up to ensure each player receives RM 2,000,” he explained.