KUALA LUMPUR – Funding allocation should prioritise merit over popularity, particularly for high-performing sports like bowling, said sports analyst Sadek Mustaffa.
His remarks followed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement that the RM15 million allocation under Budget 2025 for the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had been doubled to RM30 million.
The additional funds will come from private sector contributions.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, stated that the funds aim to support FAM’s overhaul of organisational management, ensuring national players receive continuous support from specialists and coaches.
FAM has already initiated changes under its new management unit, including appointing Peter Cklamovski as national head coach, Rob Friend as national team CEO, and Craig Duncan as head of high performance and sports medicine.
Speaking to Scoop, Sadek acknowledged football’s popularity and commercial value but cautioned against sidelining sports like bowling, which have consistently delivered results on the international stage.
“Allocating more funds to a non-performing sport is unnecessary, especially with the significant funding FAM has already received from the government and FIFA over the years,” said the senior sports science lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara.
Malaysia’s national bowling team had a stellar start to 2025, winning two gold and two silver medals at the World Cup in Hong Kong. In the singles category, Natasha Mohamed Roslan became the first Malaysian woman to win the World Cup on January 10.
Sadek stressed that other successful sports, such as lawn bowls and silat, also deserve greater attention and funding.
In 2024, Nor Farah Ain Abdullah made history by winning gold at the World Indoor Bowling Championships in Guernsey, while silat exponent V. Thamaraj set a new milestone as the first Malaysian Indian to win the World Pencak Silat Championship last month.
Sadek compared Malaysia’s approach in football to Indonesia’s, where a Rp277 billion (RM77 million) government investment into the sport led to results, including the national team qualifying for the final round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the AFC Cup final for their under-23 team.
“What has Harimau Malaya achieved in the past year to justify such high funding?
“The government should move beyond football’s popularity and allocate more to sports like bowling, which have consistently excelled internationally despite limited budgets,” said Sadek.
He also noted the lack of corporate investment in Malaysian football compared to regional counterparts.
In 2024, the Football Federation of Cambodia invested US$5 million (RM22.3 million) into national team development, management, infrastructure, and youth programmes. Meanwhile, Japan secured US$452.5 million (RM2 billion) in corporate sponsorships in 2022, followed by China (US$320.5 million), South Korea (US$98.5 million), and Thailand (US$89.6 million).
Sadek urged the government to re-evaluate its funding priorities to support sports that have proven their potential on the international stage. — January 15, 2025