Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) is preparing a working paper on creating a sport industry sector to be submitted to the Cabinet within a month, said Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
She said this is important so as to have a comprehensive scope of the sports industry in the country apart from focusing on training of the athletes’ and looking after their wellbeing.
“The other scopes to be included in the working paper are sports medicine, supplements, insurance, gym operators and organising sports conferences and various other activities related to sports which have potential to generate income for the nation,” she said.
Hannah said this in a press conference after the Prime Minister’s wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Dr Wan Ismail officiated the 18th Asian Federation of Sports Medicine (ASFM) and National Sports Institute (NSI) Sports Medicine and Sports Science here on Saturday.
A total of 500 delegates from all over Asia took part in the three-day Conference starting April 26 here.
“It is important to see the industry around the sport itself and see how we can be together (under her ministry).
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“At the moment, anything to do with medicine and treatment would heavily be given to the Ministry of Health like what Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah said that sports is for all and it is all about prevention. We need to spend not just on treatment but on the signs, prevention and (sport) injuries.
“Hence, we aim to create this sports industry sector and collaborated with Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) to collect relevant data to move forward,” Hannah said.
She said her ministry has been working with DOSM before but the data are all about retail value that comes through sports.
“When there is a sport event, we see how much is spent but we want (the scope) to be more than that, so that’s why we need to set up this sports industry sector within the ministry and we hope to achieve our aspiration.
“By having more comprehensive data involving the sports industry sector later, the ministry will able further stimulate the growth of sports in this country by bringing more funds and investment into the industry.
“With this move, the Ministry of Youth and Sports will no longer be seen as a small ministry that only looks after youth and sports. There is a whole industry there that we can explore and benefit the people,” she said.
Having establishment of this sports industry sector, Hannah said she hoped it would enable the government to channel more specific funds to her ministry, including in the fields of sports medicine and sports science which are now being given more to the Ministry of Health.
“We do hope that with the data coming in there will be more investors because of one of the things that the ministry is doing is organising sports expo last year which we did in Sabah.
“This year we will also continue to do so in Sabah because we want to get investors for Sabah and Sarawak that has a lot to offer,” Hannah said.
On the conference, Hannah said she commended the organiser who brought together four ministries – Youth and Sports Ministry, MOH, Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac).
“Organising the conference here is a very good start because this is what our Prime Minister want us to do the collaboration instead of everyone doing their own programs and activities. By doing this, we achieve more when we bring everyone together.
“They can follow the sports science development in Malaysia. This provides a platform not only to the national sports institute in the country but also to the universities that have their respective sectors to showcase what they have,” she said.
