Sports Town Hall by KBS
Credit YB Hannah Yeoh
On December 22, 2022 - The Youth and Sports Ministers Hannah Yeoh and Adam Adli held a town hall with sports associations at the Ministry Building. In addition, they have had townhalls sessions with various sports stakeholders over the past week with athletes and more. To any who was in attendance and reading this, do not worry. I won’t disclose anything you said to respect your privacy. My objective is to share my general thoughts about the program and my hopes. Especially for grassroots sports.
I have attended various town halls over the years, including the 44th President of the United States of America Barack Obama in 2014 at the University of Malaya. And usually, the purpose of town hall meetings is for officials to hear the community's views on issues close to their hearts. Be it economy, education, environment, health, sports and more. So it is a good multi-communication platform to gather as much information as possible. Subsequently, find ways to solve problems and provide progressive solutions.
The power of a town hall. From a participant's point of view, to get concerns, reach the leadership. From an observant' point of view, it is to gather knowledge from the program. From a management point of view, it is to understand, potentially course correct, and get everyone to align and be on the side about the direction as we advance. Additionally, it's a networking session and a catch-up with people across the sports ecosystem. From one sport to another, how can we help each other to develop an active sporting nation?
Ahnaf Yusri and I, representing padangbolasepak.com and REKREASI, our NGO. Both attended the program to both observe and raise issues close to our hearts. And the problem that's close to our heart is that grassroots sports must be addressed like how it was during the pandemic lockdown. The first to be closed and one of the final ones to be reopened.
The younger me would have wanted them to fix as many problems as possible by yesterday. However, the older I get, the better I understand how things work, mainly how the administration works. My expectation must be managed accordingly. For me, as long as the new ministers decided on a direction after extensive brainstorming. And remember that everything is a process. Be that as it may, selfishly speaking, that direction must include grassroots sports. Yet again, there must be a fair representation of grassroots sports in the decision-making rooms at the ministry.
All in all, it is a good start. Hopefully, they will continue to do this as much as possible and do it on occasion, like a report card town hall day. So that we as a sports ecosystem can continue in the direction we are heading or course correct. Sports will finally be the medium to foster national unity.
The above was written by the founder of padangbolasepak.com and sec-gen of REKREASI, Khalilul.
Brotherkhal | khalilul.com