Ong Kian Ming 🇲🇾 Profile picture
Member of Parliament for P102 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia; Duke; Cambridge; LSE; Raffles; La Salle PJ.

Apr 13, 2018, 16 tweets

Going to start a thread on how runners were not given their prize money in a BN-UMNO organized running event - The Sungai Buloh Night Run 2018.

On the 10th Feb 2018, a no of BN-linked organizations including (i) Sekretariat Guru Aktif 1 Selangor (GA1S), Paya Jaras (ii) Jawatankuasa Perwakilan Penduduk Parlimen Subang & (iii) Koordinator Pembangunan Persekutuan DUN N38 Paya Jaras organized the Sungai Buloh Night Run 2018.

This event was also supported by the Ministry of Education (Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Gombak). (See image below for the full list of organizers and supporters)

The sponsor (or “penaung”) of this Night Run was Dato’ Hj Zein Isma Ismail, the likely UMNO candidate for DUN Paya Jaras in GE14.

This event was attended by many BN leaders including Datuk P. Kamalanathan, the Deputy Minister for Education 1, Dato Seri Ahmad Maslan, the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and Tan Sri Dato Noh Omar, the Minister for Urban-Well Being, Housing and Local Government.

I do not object to political parties organizing running events. But at the very least, these runs should be well-organized. This event received 1.3 stars out of 5 stars in the review. Many complaints including shortage of t-shirts, medals and water.

But worst of all, at the time of writing, none of the 40 winners in the 4 categories (men’s open, women’s open, men’s senior and women’s senior) have received a single sen of the promised prize money.

The amount of the prize money is not small. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place receives RM3000, RM2000 and RM1000 respectively. The 4th and 5th placing gets RM500 each. 6th to 10th placing gets RM200 each. The total prize money for all 4 categories is RM32,000.

The large cash prizes attracted many elites to participate in this race including a few SEA games athletes. But to date, NONE of the 40 race winners have received their prize money yet.

Below is the whatsapp conversation between one of the race winners & the organizer. Apparently, the money for the race winners has not 'arrived'...

Another trail of whatsapp messages between another race winner & the organizer. Sampai hari ini, masih tunggu 'berita baik' daripada race organizer.

I didn't participate in this race because I knew the organizer does not have a track record. I found out from my friends later that the race winners had to wait past midnight for the Minister to arrive before they could receive their 'prizes'

There was a big stage and much $$$ was spent on big fireworks for the VIPs to see. But the race winners themselves did not receive any cash prizes during the presentation ceremony.

Guess what... Despite the race organizer having no track record, it was given a license by the Sports Commissioner's Office / Pejabat Pesuruhjaya Sukan (PPS).

It seems to me that the whole event was an exercise to promote the potential UMNO candidate for DUN Paya Jaras, Dato’ Hj Zein Isma Ismail. Runner's safety and prize money were not prioritized.

I'm tagging @PKamalanathan @NohOmar_myg @ahmadmaslan @datozeinisma here. Please RT to support the 40 race winners for the Sungai Buloh Night Run 2018 so that they can receive their prize money which is due to them. #EndThread

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