Lucrative incentives good for our SUKMA athletes

2024 is a good year for state athletes currently taking part in the 21st Malaysia Games (SUKMA) XXI.

Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg on Friday announced handsome incentives of RM15,000 for a gold medal, RM5,000 for a silver, and RM3,000 for a bronze. The Premier said the incentives would also extend to Para SUKMA athletes.

Abang Johari hoped the handsome incentives would help the state to achieve the 70 gold medals targeted by Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

With such lucrative incentives waiting for them, I am sure all the athletes will be inspired to work extra hard for their own glory and the glory of the state in the current SUKMA competitions.By F

riday, Sarawak was already leading the medal tally with seven golds, four silvers and five bronzes.

Out of the seven golds, three were won by wushu exponent, Stephanie Ngu Chai Ern in all three categories – women’s Changquan, women’sJianshu and women’s Qianghsu – that she participated in.Ngu also bagged Sarawak’s first gold.

Immediately after winning her first gold, she remarked that her training had finally bore fruit.

Her coach, Lau Hui Wei, was pleasantly surprised by her victories; she had expected Ngu to get just one gold medal for Sarawak.

“She was competing against the national level athletes so we expected that her competition would be tough. Nevertheless we are glad that she beat the other contingents,” said Lau who had been training Ngu since she was 10 years old.

After SUKMA, Lau wants Ngu, who is ending her SUKMA career, to either join the national team or help train other young athletes.

He said it was up to Ngu, who had been participating in SUKMA for four years, to decide what she wanted to do in the future.

But the RM45,000 she has won in SUKMA will definitely come in handy in her life. She can use it to improve herself and her life.

It is good and wise of our Premier to offer such handsome incentives to our SUKMA athletes. He knows all have trained hard and sacrificed their time with their families to bring glory to Sarawak.

Many of the athletes, if not all, will certainly appreciate the money they win and put it to good use, like treating themselves and their families to good meals and saving the rest for rainy days or emergencies.

The incentives will make this year’s SUKMA exceptionally memorable and sweet for them.

Abang Johari explained that the purpose of the incentives was to motivate athletes and turn sports into a viable career path.

During the press conference where he announced the incentives for SUKMA gold, silver and bronze medallists, the Premier pointed out that sports could be a career and that when athletes reached higher levels, even on the international stage, they carried the name of Sarawak with them, just like Datuk Pandelela Rinong Pamg and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin.

Pandelela is a former Malaysian diver who won two Olympic medals and seven World Championships and while Bonnie is a Malaysian powerlifter, who won Malaysia’s first-ever gold medal in the sport in the men’s 72 kg event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.

Abang Johari added that the state government prioritised sports alongside education and encouraged youth participation.

Deputy Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu also told Sarawak Tribune similar things before SUKMA this year.

“We want to encourage them (Sarawakian athletes), progress from local competitions to the national team, and ultimately to prestigious international events like the SEA Games, ASEAN Games and the Olympics.”

He revealed at the time of the interview that some of the teams were still overseas on special trips and training.

Rentap added that Sarawak had the potential to demonstrate the effectiveness of the training programmes, aiming to make Sarawak a sports powerhouse by 2030. 

“I’m quite confident that we will be up there, the last time that Sarawak won was 30 years ago in 1994. So, we (will) try to achieve it again,” he said.

This year, Sarawak aims to be the SUKMA champion, like it did in 1994. Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah told a local daily early last year, “ It has been losing, but this time, there are no two ways about it. Not even second best.”

Today is the eighth day of SUKMA. There are seven more days before the competitions end and all the athletes go home.

By this time next week, we will definitely know whether Sarawak is the SUKMA champion. In the meantime, l hope all Sarawakians will come out in full force to cheer on our athletes as they fight for the state’s glory.

To the athletes, don’t give up hope. Remember the state’s SUKMA motto “Agi Idup, Agi Ngelaban.” (“As long as you’re alive, you keep on fighting.”). Good luck!

The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Sarawak Tribune.