The contribution came on the heels of a dispute surrounding the rewards for the medal winners.
Yeoh said 99 Speed Mart provided RM35,000 each to gold medallists Cheah Liek Hou (badminton) and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin (powerlifting); RM15,000 each to silver medallists Latif Romly (long jump) and Ziyad Zolkefli (shot put); and RM7,000 to bronze medallist Eddy Bernard (sprint).
Berita Harian reported Yeoh as saying that 99 Speed Mart was not involved in the original reward programme but came forward with the donations following media coverage of the issue.
“I would like to express my gratitude to 99 Speed Mart for coming forward as a special sponsor,” she said at a press conference today.
“They wanted to step in to help our para-athletes resolve this issue. They are the ‘white knight’ who came forward to ensure our athletes receive the amounts previously reported in the media,” she said.
Liek Hou took to social media last week to voice his frustration that gold medallists were still waiting for a RM60,000 cash reward promised by the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (MPM) more than a year after the Games.
The council’s president Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin questioned where the RM60,000 figure came from. He said three companies had initially pledged support for the medal winners, and the council has now received RM88,000 from one sponsor to be distributed to the athletes.
Megat said the council was considering suspending and taking legal action against Liek Hou because his social media post had “damaged MPM’s image” and could discourage future sponsorships.
However, the council backed down after being told off by Yeoh, who said that MPM does not have the authority to punish Liek Hou for speaking out about unpaid incentives.
She also said Liek Hou did not violate any disciplinary rules as he was simply demanding the RM60,000 cash reward promised to him a year ago.
Liek Hou and other gold medallists initially ended up receiving RM25,000 each instead of RM60,000, while silver medallists received RM15,000, and bronze medallists RM8,000.
Yeoh said a standard contract template under the Road to Gold (RTG) programme had been submitted to MPM for future use to ensure such incidents did not occur again.