Here are some extracted points from the press conference given by the President of the Malaysia Athletics Federations (MAF) on the 13th December 2017 ILLEGAL MARATHONS AND ROAD RACES IN MALAYSIA.
1. The MAF shall be the only body, in Malaysia, with the sole authority to advise the Sports Commissioner on the control and regulate the staging and running of competitive road racing events – which include the marathon and half marathons as contained in the IAAF Competition Rules currently in force.
2. An entity, other than MAF for all marathons and its affiliate members for half marathons and other distances shall be permitted to sanction a competitive road races, of the standard distances, provided it subject itself to, and abide by, the conditions and regulations agreed with the MAF or its affiliate members, prior to the staging of the event. Any failure to faithfully abide and adhere to the agreed conditions and regulation may result in the imposition of a penalty in monetary form or a withdrawal of the permit to stage the event.
3. We have noticed event managers have only one objective which is to raise funds at the least possible cost – sometimes even at expense of Government machinery. It is profit orientated. The technicality is always overlooked. The MAF has qualified technical officials to run the programmes efficiently. Event Managers often overlook safety and technical aspects. They are often ignored and taken for granted. The Police must check that the organisers have approval given by Sports Commissioner /MAF/Affiliates.
4. To protect runners who pay registration fees to the organisers, the Sports Commissioner’s office should have a registration of event organisers under Class I or II or III based on their paid-up capital, past experiences and track records and background of principle officials who should have Sports background. The details and records. of each registered event organiser should be displayed openly in the Sports Commissioner’s website so that any runner can check on the organiser’s past records. Any suspended or de-registered event organiser should be prominently highlighted in the website.
5. The Sports Committee should form an event Technical Committee under MAF to establish the terms and conditions for runs to be approved.
a) The Technical Committee shall obtain official comments and recommendations from PDRM, venue owners, and other stake-holders and prepare a report to the Sports Commissioner specifying the terms and conditions for the run to be approved.
b) PDRM or venue owners, or town councils are not the approving authorities of runs. The Sports Commissioner is the only approving authority.
6. We notice that very often event organisers approach the town council and local PDRM for approval, Please note that these government departments are not the final approving authority. The final authority of which according to the Sports Development Act is the Sports Commissioner.
7. Ignorance of the Law is no excuse and cannot be accepted. Very often some government officers not from the Sports Commissioner’s Office for some unknown reason gives the impression that they are the approving authority. Please note that this is not the case.
