For Malaysian sports to improve, athletes must be treated with respect while officials must display integrity and have a sound knowledge of their tasks.

Some sports officials act indifferently because they have no clue about taking their associations to the next level.

Those with hidden ambitions are ruining sports bodies as they spend most of their time politicking and settling personal conflicts.

The practice of buying votes with money, overseas trips and other attractive perks has seen unqualified people become key office bearers.

While athletes work hard to qualify for international competitions, officials jump on the bandwagon to these meets as a reward for blindly supporting the leadership.

Sadly, sports, athletes and coaches fall victim to the ineptness of these officials.

And worryingly, cases of athletes, coaches and technical staff not getting their wages, allowances or incentives are on the rise.

Such situations are common especially in football, and to a certain degree in athletics and cycling.

Some athletes, not wanting to rock the boat, try to solve their issues by themselves for fear of being victimised if they confront the authorities and end up waiting a long time for their dues.

There have been numerous cases where athletes were paid considerably less than the amount they were promised or had their contracts altered.

It is odd that some of the affected players failed to seek the help of the Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia, or the FA of Malaysia’s Status Committee that were established for their welfare.

There is also the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Athletes Commission whose membership is open to Malaysian representatives at multi-sport games under the jurisdiction of the OCM.

Perhaps, this committee should play a bigger role by assisting distressed athletes.

The current issue of the Malaysia Athletics Federation’s (MAF) non-payment of RM20,000 to national 200m record holder Russell Nasir Taib, who is based in Brisbane, is a case of point.

The money due to Russel is part of the US$25,000 allocated by the International Association of Athletics Federations for development of athletics.

A mock cheque for RM21,000 was presented to Russel at an official dinner in March last year by then MAF president Karim Ibrahim, but to date the sprinter has only been paid RM1,000 for breaking the 200m record.

Russel had earlier that month clocked 20.77s to erase Khairul Hafiz Jantan’s national record of 20.90s set at the 2017 Malaysian Open.

The sprinter of Malaysian-English parentage has spent more than RM100,00 since he started training for Malaysia in 2015, first in Tasmania and now in Brisbane.

While efforts are underway to pay Russel the RM20,000, the events leading up to non-payment could be put down poor communication and management by MAF, and a personality clash between the past and present presidents.

Russel’s management team, Team Taib, has also erred in not getting its information up to date.

For one, they did not know that the National Sports Council (NSC) had included Russel in its Podium Programme from April to December this year, entitling him to RM2,000 per month.

NSC, on the other hand, was accused by Team Taib of not giving them proper information.

Since FMT highlighted Russel’s plight more track and field stars, including Ifran Shamsuddin (discus), Mohamad Iskandar Alwi (pole vault), Andre Anura (long jump) and Jackie Wong (hammer), have claimed they too have not received their promised incentives.

Will other athletes from other sports come forward with similar claims?

Officials who have overstayed their welcome should exit gracefully, and this includes those who are bankrupt of ideas, and politicians and others with vested interests.

They must make way for younger officials with fresh ideas, commitment, sporting background and a sound knowledge of sports.

After all, without athletes, officials will not exist, although they will argue that without them athletes will be lost. This is a typical case of putting the cart before the horse.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.