Tour Of Sarawak Labelled As "A Corrupted Event" Following Cancellation At The Last Minute
The organiser said that the cancellation was due to the lack of funds caused by the last-minute withdrawal by sponsors.
By Tang Ruxyn — 18 Mar 2016, 01:51 PM — Updated about 8 years ago
Tour of Sarawak (TOS) 2016 road cycling race was expected to be a huge event that would have attracted 1 million visitors but instead, Malaysia was left embarrassed after the event was cancelled at the last minute following a dramatic week
Teams from around the globe, including squads from Asia, Africa and three teams from Australia had flown in to be part of the event, only to find the dire situation on the ground once they arrived.
Initially, organisers could not be reached, apparently taking the phone off the hook at their contact number, with all other attempts at contact going unanswered.
Finally a last minute meeting was scheduled between the organisers and the teams, with the news coming out from it that the race was cancelled less than 24-hours before it was due to start.
Tour of Sarawak (TOS), would have been the first ever International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctioned stage race held in the state and the first 2.2 status UCI Asia Tour calendar event to be held in the state. The 4-day event was scheduled to start on Wednesday, 16 March in Miri.
On Monday, 14 March, technical crew members and teams from abroad were stranded in Kuala Lumpur because the organisers didn’t pay up for the flights to Kuching
The chaos surrounding the Tour of Sarawak surfaced on Sunday night, 13 March, when some crew members reported they had been given copies of flight bookings only to find that their flights had yet to be paid for by the organisers, upon arrival to board their 'scheduled' flights to Kuching.
Efforts to contact Tour of Sarawak project director Mohd Fadzli Mat Yusof came to no avail as the number stated on his business card was not in service.
"There was no greeting party, no ground transportation at the airport and no hotel bookings."
Brett Dutton’s team was one of several locked out of their rooms the following day when informed that payment was required.
Image via fidelitypaymentAustralian Continental team St. George Merida was one of the first squads to arrive in the start city of Miri, located on the western border of Brunei on the island of Borneo, only to discover there was no greeting party, no ground transportation at the airport and no hotel bookings.
Though eventually admitted into accommodation at the team hotel on Sunday, 13 March, evening, Brett Dutton’s team was one of several locked out of their rooms the following day when informed that payment was required.
“The guy at the hotel said all the rooms were cancelled three days ago,” said Dutton on Monday, 14 March.
“So somebody cancelled the race and just didn’t tell anybody.”
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Fadz Industries Sdn Bhd, led by Mohd Fadzli Mat Yusof, who is also Tour of Sarawak chairman and project manager, has been the centre of attraction of the whole fiasco ever since he went missing in action on Sunday, 13 March.
Participants only managed to meet up with him for some updates two days later.
"We had no contact and no representatives of the organisers were here. We really don't know what is going on. The Australian team St George-Merida also suffered the same fate. They had arrived at the airport and had to find their own way to the hotel and paid for it themselves too," former national cyclist Ng Yong Li, who was assisting the Lampre Singapore team, said on Monday, 14 March.
Following dozens of unanswered emails and calls to Fadz Industries officials, CyclingTips (an Australian-based website for cycling enthusiasts) was finally able to track down the evasive Mohd Fadzli Mat Yusof.
Since then, the race has been cancelled then resurrected on at least two occasions, and the final confirmation of the cancellation came less than 24-hours before it was due to start.
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Today, 18 March, Mohd Fadzli has cited financial problems as the main cause for cancellation of the event
According to him, the entire cost of organising the Tour of Sarawak was estimated to be around RM3.5 million.
“That was what was promised to us but unfortunately because of internal problems, our sponsors had decided to withdraw themselves,” he told a press conference yesterday, 17 March.
“The organisers do not have any intention to con anyone. In fact, we have also contributed around RM500,000 of our own money to manage this championship.”
Fadzli also assured that the organisers did not use the RM200,000 from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which was channelled through the Sarawak Cycling Association.
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To make matters worse, Fadzli has claimed that his organisation had used their own funds to pay for participants' way back home, but it was refuted by some members of the entourage
"If the organisers had paid for all of it as suggested, we would not be suffering as we are now, We were left there in Miri to find our own way to Kuching. We were never offered any help to settle our bus fare or anything. But we knew this was just a total disaster, so we had to find our own way to Kuching and get back to Kuala Lumpur," claimed physiotherapist Ahmad Ramzi Ahmad Zaini.
Lampre Singapore team coach Ng Yong Li lambasted the organisers for saying they paid for the teams' passage home.
"Let me make this clear. We and all the teams left in Miri, including the MNCF commissaires, we all paid our own bus fare to get to Kuching," said Yong Li.
"If the organiser says so, he was standing right there when we were negotiating with a bus service provider. He never offered to pay for anything. He just ignored us."
In addition to the mismanagements of the event, there are now allegations that the event was politicised
According to an article by New Straits Times Online, Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) “appears convinced that funding for the race was secured by the organisers in prior enquiries, only to discover otherwise later on."
Besides that, it was reported that MNCF technical committee chairman Ibrahim Omar, the Tour of Sarawak organiser was said to have received a phone call from a ‘Tan Sri’, following which the organisers pleaded for the race to be allowed to continue.”
However, Social Development Minister Tan Sri William Mawan quickly disputed allegations that he was involved in any way.
Mawan, who is Pakan assemblyman and Saratok MP, said even though the federation did not mention his name, he feared that people might think that it was him they were referring to because of his position as minister-in-charge of sports development in Sarawak.
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Responding to the controversy, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the organisers could be blacklisted from being involved in any sporting events in the future
Disappointed by what he termed as an embarrassing failure that has tarnished the country's image, Khairy has instructed Sports Commissioner Datuk Zaiton Othman to look into the severest of action that can be taken against the organisers under the Sports Development Act 1997.
"From what had transpired, we can clearly see that this organiser was not prepared and did not meet all the requirements necessary to carry out the race," said Khairy.
"What has happened is damaging to the sport and the country's image."