"All Their Expenses Are Paid By Myself" — Norza Clarifies Amid Online Attack On His Family
The Olympic Council of Malaysia president, who also serves as the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, claimed that he doesn't receive any salary or allowance from either association.
By Sadho Ram — 07 Aug 2024, 12:27 PM
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria has decried the public criticism his family has faced after he justified bringing his wife and son to the 2024 Paris Olympics
"This attack on my family is absolutely unnecessary and my family [does] not need to go through such scrutiny," he was quoted as saying by The Star today, 7 August.
Controversy erupted after Norza was photographed sitting together with his wife and son during the men's doubles badminton bronze medal match at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle on Sunday, 4 August.
The presence of his family at the Olympics became an issue after netizens lambasted OCM, pointing out that national women's badminton professional player Goh Jin Wei had to compete without her coach, and men's singles player Lee Zii Jia had to self-fund his entire team after no Team LZJ staff names were included in the list of officials named by OCM due to insufficient accreditation cards.
The controversy was further inflamed when Norza rebuked netizens for questioning OCM's priorities, claiming he was provided with a "special quota" to bring his own guests to watch the Paris Olympics.
He has now clarified that his family is in Paris using the personal accreditation cards provided by the International Olympic Committee for National Olympic Committee president and secretary-general.
"My family is here using this allocation, which only allows them to access VIP seating areas," he said, adding, "Every time they travel, all their expenses are paid by myself."
The OCM president, who also serves as the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), reportedly claimed that he doesn't receive any salary or allowance from either association
According to The Star, Norza said he was doing pro-bono work as president of OCM and BAM.
"I do not receive any salary from both organisations or allowances. I want to help bring glory and pride to our nation," he said, adding that he will now hasten his exit from BAM because of the controversy.
"[However], seeing all these responses [against my family], my feeling right now, I am just going to say that I am resigning soon from BAM, which many people are aware of.
"I hope the next leader can improve the state of badminton affairs in our country," said Norza.
The 57-year-old had earlier announced that he would be leaving after the Olympics.
Earlier, BAM administrative director Michelle Chai came to Norza's defence, labelling the public criticism against him as "cyberbullying"
"Just like athletes, officials should also not be cyberbullied.
"Please understand the issue before making comments. If we don't like a person, [it] doesn't mean everything he does is bad," Chai was quoted as saying by the English newspaper.
