Quantum of incentives for Sarawak SUKMA winning athletes to be announced later

KUCHING: The Sarawak Cabinet will have to have a thorough discussion before announcing the the amount of incentives for host athletes who win gold medals at the 21st Malaysia Games (SUKMA).

Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah was optimistic that the amount decided will be equivalent to or more than that of other states.

“We don’t want to announce it first; we want the athletes, when they enter the arena or stadium, to only think about how to achieve victory for Sarawak and their personal success.

“This is very important as an athlete should never look at it from the perspective of incentives. We know how to reward winning athletes,” he said during the TVS talk show here on Monday (Aug 5).

Asked about the Olympics, Abdul Karim said Sarawak-born athletes who win gold medals will receive half of the incentives offered by the federal government, just like in the previous Olympic edition.

“Whether we maintain that or not depends on the performance of these athletes.

“My hope is that the Sarawak athletes there can give their best performance, and we will know how to reciprocate their contributions to the country and also to Sarawak,” he added.

Additionally, he expressed the same hope that the organisation of the 21st SUKMA runs smoothly, especially in terms of preparation, dance performances, parades, and fireworks for the opening and closing ceremonies.

He also urged Malaysians to watch live the 37 sports that will be contested at 50 designated venues through TVS and RTM channels to feel the prestige of the national games more closely from Aug 17 to 24.

Sarawak was chosen as the host of SUKMA for the third time after the 1990 and 2016 editions.