KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has assured that the 2027 Malaysia Sea Games will go on as planned, with or without Sabah's support.
Sabah had initially agreed to allocate RM100 million to co-manage a decentralised 2027 Games but withdrew recently, citing a lack of suitable facilities in the state.
Yeoh today said the federal government will continue with plans to host the games.
"We have been informed by Sabah that they will not be with us in organising the 2027 Sea Games," said Yeoh today.
"We will move forward together with Sarawak, Penang and Kuala Lumpur. No other states have (declared interest) despite having sent many notices to them.
"I think these three states are enough, don't worry nothing will be affected, even without Sabah.
"We will continue as planned and will call for a meeting soon.
"Now that Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) has been settled, we will look to prepare the master scheme for the Sea Games. We must begin now as the Sea Games is not too long from now."
Sarawak has pledged roughly RM350 million for the games while Penang is allocating RM15 million. The two states will host a number of events during the games alongside Kuala Lumpur.
In the past, the games was usually held in the Klang Valley.
Yeoh earlier this year said that organising the Sea Games using a decentralised model reduces the burden on the federal government as the organising costs can be shared together with states as well as corporate sponsors.
The 2027 Sea Games is expected to cost roughly RM700 million to organise.
Malaysia last hosted the Sea Games in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur which at the time had cost roughly RM608 million.
Yeoh was speaking after officiating the closing ceremony of the National Women in Sports Seminar in Subang Jaya today.