Youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh said 685,602 people were registered as OKU thus far, a low figure compared with the total population of over 33 million people.

“If we look at the statistics this year, the number of OKU in Malaysia is estimated at 15% of the total population, based on global figures. However, so far only 685,602 people hold OKU cards.

“This is one of the challenges we face in looking for parathletes,” she said during the question-and-answer session today.

She was replying to a supplementary question from Senator C Sivaraj, who wanted to know the funds allocated and the programmes implemented for the development of parathletes.

Yeoh said her ministry had increased the administrative grant for the Paralympic Council of Malaysia from RM100,000 to RM172,000 to pay the salaries of three new staff members to organise state and district-level talent search programmes.

She also said the ministry felt the RM19 million provided by the government for parathlete development programmes was sufficient for now.

Yeoh said the allocation would, among others, be used to fund development programmes for backup parathletes, unearth new talent through state and district-level training centres, organise tournament circuits and talent camps, and give administrative aid to the Paralympic Council of Malaysia in implementing state-level parathlete development programmes.