THE Rio Olympic Games concluded last week.
Our badminton players, Datuk Lee Chong Wei in the singles, and Goh V Shem and Tang Wee Kiong in the men’s doubles, came very close to clinching gold medals in tightly fought matches that kept us on the edge of our seats.
In the final tally, Malaysia won four silver and one bronze medals. Nonetheless, the entire nation rejoiced at our best Olympic outing yet. The athletes won our hearts regardless of the colours of the medals they won and returned to a hero’s welcome.
Under the Athletes Incentive Scheme (SHAKAM) of the National Sports Council of Malaysia, the silver medal winners will get RM300,000 and RM3,000 in monthly pension while the bronze medallist will receive RM100,000 and RM2,000 pension. The reward for the still elusive Olympic gold is RM1 million and a RM5,000 monthly pension.
At the ceremony to welcome their return at the Bunga Raya Complex, KLIA, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced a further RM200,000 incentive for each medal winner. The athletes’ home states have also announced cash rewards for them.
The medal winners were richly rewarded for their efforts and rightly so. What we saw during the Olympics were the results of years of hard work, dedication and sacrifices these athletes have put in. They could only achieve that level of performance with steely perseverance and single-mindedness.
Apart from the cash incentives from the government, the medal winners also received cars from Proton and a host of other gifts of cash and in kind benefits from the private sector. All in, this edition of the Olympic Games must have been the most rewarding for the medal winning athletes.
In view of this windfall, there were murmurs in social media as to whether athletes to the Paralympic Games in Rio from Sept 7 to 18 will be getting similar incentives.
The contingent of 61 athletes from Malaysia will be leaving for Brazil on August 29 to compete in 13 events in the same arenas as the athletes in the Olympic Games.
After all, Paralympic Games is an international sporting event recognised as of the same stature and standing as the Olympic Games.
In the 2012 Paralympic in London, Malaysia won two medals. Hasihin Sanawi won silver in archery and Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli bagged a bronze in the men’s shot put. Apart from that, our athletes have won silver and bronze medals in previous editions of Paralympic Games in Beijing, Barcelona and Seoul.
I see the raising of this issue regarding incentives for Paralympic athletes as a good sign. It shows some segments of society are beginning to recognise the involvement of disabled people.
Citizens who contribute to nation-building and bring glory to the country should be justly rewarded, regardless of whether they are disabled people or not.
We have world class athletes who will be participating in the Paralympic Games. They are medal winners in numerous World Championships and SEA Games. Although most of them are not as well-known as the non-disabled athletes, they train equally hard, if not harder. This is despite having to contend with the multiple challenges and barriers they face in their everyday lives.
A check on the website of the National Sports Council of Malaysia revealed that Paralympic medal winners will receive the same cash rewards as the Olympic medallists under SHAKAM. The initiative to include disabled athletes in the scheme was announced by Minister of Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin in 2013.
Before that, Paralympic athletes were awarded RM300,000 for winning a gold medal, RM200,000 for a silver medal and RM100,000 for a bronze medal respectively. These amounts were greatly inferior to what the non-disabled athletes were getting.
The government, especially the Ministry of Youth and Sports through the National Sports Council of Malaysia, must be lauded for recognising the Paralympic Games as of equal standing as Olympic Games and reward the winners accordingly.
Similarly, disabled and non-disabled athletes winning medals in other recognised international and regional championships will receive incentives of the same amount.
To give credit where credit is due, our government has passed the first test of equality and inclusivity in the field of sports. From treating our disabled athletes as sportsmen of lesser standing deserving only a footnote in the annals of Malaysian sports previously, the government has now elevated them to a status equal to that of non-disabled athletes. This recognition is most welcomed and will surely motivate the athletes to train harder and excel.
In the same vein, let’s cheer our Paralympic athletes and give them the same support like we have shown to our Olympic athletes recently. There are medal prospects for some of the events they are competing in. Who knows? They may yet score a gold medal or two and we can finally get to hear Negaraku echoing inside the stadium for an event of this distinction.
Hopefully, should our Paralympic athletes return from Rio with medals, they will get the same warm reception by VIPs and supporters at the airport.
And hopefully, they will also be awarded the extra RM200,000 on top of the SHAKAM incentive like what was given to the Olympic athletes.
That will be the ultimate litmus test of equality and inclusivity in Malaysian sports and shows the government does not practise discrimination where such awards are concerned.