KUALA LUMPUR: Representatives of the suspended Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA) will submit a memorandum soonest possible to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to find ways to resolve the crisis in the sports body.Its former president Raja Taharuddin Raja Nong Chik said the memorandum would state their disappointment over the announcement by the ad hoc committee on the formation of Taekwondo Malaysia (TM) to take over the role of MTA.
“The ad hoc committee was only tasked with resolving MTA’s internal crisis, and not set up a new association,” he said after attending a meeting with seven state taekwondo associations at Wisma OCM here yesterday.
The ad hoc committee, chaired by OCM president Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar, was set up by then Sports Commissioner Tan Sri Elyas Omar in early 2008.
Raja Taharudin, whose membership in the ad hoc committee was suspended last September over his issuing of a press statement on the ad hoc committee, said: “In my opinion, the ad hoc committee had failed in its ways to tackle the crisis. Now it wants to set up a new association, Taekwondo Malaysia.”
He said under the ad hoc committee, MTA and its members had adhered to every condition in the pledge of promises.
“The ad hoc committee had ordered for an annual general meeting to be convened last Oct 24 with each delegation agreeing to amend the association’s constitution.
“However, the ad hoc committee issued a notice on Dec 27 to hold a biennial delegates conference to choose who should led MTA, but until now it has not been done.
“When we wrote to the ad hoc committee, there was no reply. Instead, it announced the setting up of Taekwondo Malaysia,” Raja Taharudin said.
Present at the press conference were president of Selangor Taekwondo Association Datuk Dr Yusof Hashim and his deputy Eddie Tuan, and the presidents and representatives of seven state associations affiliated to MTA. — Bernama
MTA, the national governing body for taekwondo and is affiliated to World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), was de-registered by Elyas on May 6, 2005 but later reinstated by then Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said.
Copies of the memorandum will also be submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the chairman of Cabinet Committee on Sports, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek and Sports Commissioner Datuk Nik Mahmud Nik Yusof. — Bernama