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The Malaysia Paralympic Council (MPM)’s decision to call for an Extra Ordinary General Meeting on September 18 is destined to prolong and complicate further the quandary it is facing.
The MPM has been embroiled in controversy after five candidates filed in their nomination for the MPM elections after the prescribed dateline.
Faced with the dilemma, the MPM general body, which met on June 29, decided to postpone the meeting to a later date.
No decision was made at the meeting to review the filing of candidacy but only that the elections would be held at a later date. Instead of scheduling a new date, the MPM executive committee has taken the unprecedented step to call for an EGM.
The decision to hold the EGM to endorse the calling for fresh nominations may or may not be legal, but it certainly seems to be for the benefit of a few.
Former Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, John Ng Kean Chuan, Nasharuddin Hashim, Siti Zaharah Abdul Khalid and Dr S Radha Krishnan were the five, who had failed to keep the timeline on nominations.
It is pertinent to note that John Ng is the incumbent deputy president and Siti Zaharah the incumbent secretary general.
It is said that the outgoing president of MPM is in favour of SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin of Khairy taking over the presidency and that John Ng is in the same “team”.
It does not augur well for the MPM as it now looks like they were bending the rules to pave the way for a select few, who failed to adhere to the set rules in the first instant.
Megat D Shahriman Zaharuddin who had filed an injunction to stop the EGM is also seeking the courts to nullify the candidacy of the five.
Unlike the five, Megat had filed his candidacy on time to contest the presidency and should have been elected the MPM president unopposed if the rules were strictly adhered to.
Megat had also claimed that the EGM was being improperly called as only 11 of the 24 members of the MPM had requested for the same. This he said was in contrary to Article 16.1 (b) of the MPM constitution that requires 12 members to make such requests.
Whether the injunction is awarded or not, there is bound to be more legal actions in the future if the EGM takes place.
The matter should have been resolved at the meeting on June 29, but was allowed to fester due to the indecision of the members to uphold their own rules.
The Sports Minister and the Sports Commissioners Office have an obligation to step in immediately before the matter turns into a bigger farce.
This could well set a precedence with other sports associations, where those who failed to adhere to basic rules could still wield the power to change the same for their benefit.
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