SHAH ALAM, 27 Mar: The State Government has its own approach to deal with the Federal Government’s attitude of putting less emphasis on sports development in Selangor.

The Executive Councillor in charge of Youth and Sports, Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, said that the State Government is choosing to not be confrontational in such situations to ensure that no parties are affected, especially teachers.

He said that so far there has been no sports development programmes done directly with schools.

“We are taking this approach to take care of everyone. At the same time, sports development programmes are actively being carried out.

“We also do not want when the State Government is directly involved with schools, the teachers are made victims by the Federal Government.

“They may be subject to disciplinary action, given show cause letters or replaced for cooperating with the State Government,” he told Selangor Kini recently.

This was raised by Yunus when barriers came up which did not allow the State Government to be directly involved in school in sports development.

“For example, we could enter the Section 11 Sports School before Pakatan Rakyat took over the State Government, the Selangor State Sports Council (MSN) and the Sports Exco. But, now we are officially not allowed in.

“However, the State Government, via MSN, can still keep in touch and give assistance in the school’s sports development needs,” he said.

He said that they have outlines a number of commitments as a way out in efforts to ensure that sports development programmes in the state continue to be implemented.

“I am trying to find the best way to organise a sports tournament. Last year, I managed to organise an under 16 football tournament which was not contested at the school level.

“Instead, it still involves students when they participate in the tournament during school holidays. This way, we still have space to find talent of students with immense potential in the sport of football,” he said.