In reply to the front page article published on November 9, 2013 as well as the package of accompanying stories highlighting the state of the 1Malaysia Futsal Courts and the multipurpose courts, we are quite honoured to receive such scrutiny from The Star regarding the futsal and multipurpose courts which have been built since 2006. We believe in accountability and that no government agency should escape inspection. At the same time, we believe in going by the facts, something that The Star could do with every now and then.
The article states that there are about 2,200 1Malaysia futsal courts. There are actually 1,870 futsal/multipurpose courts built by the Youth and Sports Ministry all over the country. Out of which, 1,224 multipurpose courts were built under the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) which were for the usage of several sports including futsal, netball, basketball, volleyball, sepak takraw and badminton. Meanwhile, the remaining 646 were built under the present 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015). Those were solely for the purpose of futsal and are known as the 1Malaysia Futsal Court. Therefore, there are only 646 1Malaysia Futsal Courts.
Our futsal/multipurpose courts only have a working warranty period of five years and we concur that many of those built in the RMK9 have passed its shelf life. Most of the damage to the courts were due to the normal wear and tear after frequent usage without proper monitoring as well as vandalism. However, KBS only has the funds to build the courts with the knowledge and agreement that once the ministry hands over the courts, the light maintenance work and management of the courts are the responsibility of the local community or the local council.
We encourage the local residents, youth or sports associations managing the courts to collect fees from the players and they are charged with a minimum rate between free of charge, up to RM30 per hour. In comparison, popular private futsal courts in Petaling Jaya charge up to RM100 an hour. While we do not dictate the associations on how much they can charge the public, they are encouraged to follow our guidelines and the fees can vary from one location to another depending on the socio-economic status of the local community.
At the same time, we have requested from the Economic Planning Unit more funds for the repair of courts which have suffered major damage. If it is up to the Government to bear the cost of the maintenance of the futsal/multipurpose courts, we could spend up to RM18.7 million annually over and above development funds needed to build new courts.
However, the unfair reporting by The Star could easily mislead the public into thinking that almost all of the futsal/multipurpose courts are in deplorable conditions and this cannot be further from the truth. From our own audits, there are only about 10% of the total futsal and multipurpose courts which are heavily damaged and these were built more than eight years ago in 2006.
It is also inaccurate to say that the futsal/multipurpose courts are in isolated venues. Most of the futsal/multipurpose courts are situated in strategic locations with a lot of human traffic. In fact, we place very strict requirements when selecting locations to build the courts in. We will only build the courts after approval from the Land Office and the local councils, and after getting formal consensus from the local community leaders.
It is highly irresponsible of The Star to give vague anecdotal statements regarding the courts despite claiming to have visited more than 100 futsal/multipurpose courts. Instead of publishing empirical facts, we were treated with ambiguous statements such as “Many were found lacking maintenance…” and “many others are in shambles”. From that, it is impossible for the reader to establish a sample size of the courts which were truly damaged or situated in unstrategic locations.
And of course it is sensationalistic to pick the worst futsal/multipurpose court that the Starprobe team visited and to publish its picture on the news pages. The courts which were pictured in the report were in Chenderiang and Bandar Baru Permas Jaya , Masai and those I admit, are not our best courts. But I would like to also invite The Star team to visit our courts in certain areas of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
Take time to go to the court in Taman Merpati B, Pandan Indah in Selangor, where the local sports club have managed the court well and even collected close to RM2,000 monthly to cover for the maintenance, or the court in Taman Impian Putra, Bangi where the Taman Impian Youth Society collects RM1,000 monthly. Outside the Klang Valley, exemplary futsal courts could also be found all over the country including Port Dickson where the courts in Taman Politeknik and Taman PD Utama are well-run by the local residents or youth organizations.
While the damage by The Star towards the Ministry of Youth and Sports has been done, the demand for more futsal courts continues to be high. And because the developmental expenditure for KBS has been reduced by RM64 million in the 2014 Budget tabled recently, we don’t have plans for too many new courts next year. But going forward, we are looking at several different surface technology which will last longer as opposed to the standard concrete surface. And we only hope that the good journalists in The Star will give us a chance when we give service to the rakyat instead of splitting hairs over the maintenance of the courts when they are rightfully the responsibility of the local community and grossly exaggerating the state of our futsal courts, most of which are in good working order.
