Youth and Sports Minister appeals to other states to help fund LTdL

BINTULU (Oct 7): Many states are interested in hosting events but are often reluctant to provide financial support, laments federal Minister of Youth and Sports (KBS) Hannah Yeoh.

She made this observation after flagging off stage 8 of the Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from Bintulu yesterday.

She disclosed that total sponsorship for the event amounted to RM8.2 million in cash and kind, with KBS and MSN (National Sports Council) spending RM12 million.

“Our challenge is always that in terms of funding , so we try to do the best we can, to cover more places that we feel are interesting enough for tourism and cyclists,” she said.

She urged the various states to allocate more funds for sports development and viewing it as an investment to attract tourists.

“They need to allocate that and not just see this so as to win for Sukma but they really need to see this as an investment also to bring in tourists to their states.

“Everybody wants to go to their place, but everything is about cost. Even to come to Sarawak was not easy, the cost grew a lot for us but we were very determined to make this work because we really want the cyclists to experience more on Peninsula and East Malaysia,” she said.

The minister spoke on ongoing national challenges in securing funding for major sports events such as Sukma and LTdL. Despite reaching out to all states for sponsorship funds, the response was often minimal, she added.

“We have to rely on ourselves to go out and look for sponsors, so it is all done by us at the federal level,” she said.

However, she expressed gratitude towards Sarawak for its proactive partnership with KBS in hosting sports events and its places of interest and infrastructure which have been pivotal in making these events successful.

“Our challenge now is do we have other states coming forward, otherwise it cannot be always expecting just Sarawak to come on the table and help us like Sukma and LTDL.

A total of 132 cyclists from 22 countries participated in LTdL 2024. The longest stretch for the nation’s iconic cycling tour was from Miri to Bintulu.

“On behalf of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS), we expressed gratitude to all sponsors and government agencies that contributed to the success of LTdL.

“Special thanks were to the security forces, health teams, Tourism Malaysia, and the state governments of Sarawak and other participating states for their cooperation with the National Sports Council (MSN),” said Yeoh during a press conference after flagging off of Stage 8 Bintulu loop at Lasar Kenyalang here yesterday.

She also urged sports clubs and associations to seek funding independently and revealed that KBS is now looking at reforms to improve the ability of such bodies to secure funds from government-linked companies (GLCs).

“KBS has proposed tax incentives to the Ministry of Finance for the next budget,” she said.