KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said she preferred not to resort to finger-pointing over Malaysia's failure to meet the four-gold target at the recent Paris Paralympics.
Instead she pointed out that creating a harmonious environment for para-athletes is the joint responsibility of the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) and the National Sports Council (NSC).
"We have many agencies under the ministry, and they are represented by a representative on the NSC's board.
"Whatever issues that arise, we will discuss them together and like the NSC director-general, Abdul Rashid Yaakub, has answered, there's no real issue, it's just two athletes that were targeted for gold but won silver instead.
"I believed if they won gold instead, there would have been no issue," Yeoh said after the closing ceremony of the Rimau Emas Mini Para Athletics Championships here today.
At the Paris Paralympics, Ziyad Zolkefli (shot put) and Datuk Abdul Latif Romly (long jump), who were targeted to win gold, won silver instead. This affected the PCM's target of four-gold medals.
Consequently, PCM president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman Zaharudin blame interference from the NSC as the reason for their failure.
Cheah Liek Hou (para-badminton) and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin (powerlifting) were Malaysia's only gold medal winners in Paris. Eddy Bernard (para-athletics) won bronze.
"In sports, I prefer not to resort to finger-pointing, I would rather sit down and discuss any issues together," said Yeoh.
"I was in Paris for a week, and Megat did not bring up these issues to me there. The issues that he raised have been answered by the director-general.
"If there are any further issues, he needs to sit down with the director-general and find a solution through a discussion. We have to work together for the development of sports," added Yeoh.
Meanwhile, the Segambut MP said she had approached the Finance Ministry for a bigger allocation for next year's budget, specifically for para-athletes.
Yeoh said the nation's Paralympic athletes had told her that they felt nervous competing at the biggest stage because they did not have enough exposure to top- level competition.
"To identify talent and give them more exposure, we need a bigger budget. So that is why I went to the Finance Ministry to request a bigger budget specifically for para-athletes.
"Last year the Podium budget for para-sports was about RM10 million and RM40 million overall.
"It is estimated the global population of disabled individuals is 15 per cent of the total population, so that allocation for para-sports is more or less 20 per cent of the total Podium budget.
"The budget for the population right now is enough, but for further exposure, we need more funds," said Yeoh.