Malaysians Aren't Happy Because JCM Gave Young Cyclists "Measly" Prize Money
While everyone welcomed the initiative, the cash prizes have enraged hundreds of people.
By Sadho Ram — 13 Apr 2016, 10:13 PM
These days when it is way too easy for the kids to become inactive in sports, any extra effort taken by the government or society to ensure that it doesn't happen must be commended for the initiative
The National Sports Council (NSC), therefore, should be praised for the Junior Cycling Malaysia (JCM) initiative in which over 700 individuals from the age of 5 to 19 took part at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park in Serdang. JCM is intended to produce a continuous supply of talent to be further groomed by the NSC.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy, who wants to make JCM accessible and fun to encourage more youngsters into the sport, said that he will work together with the Education Ministry to get more students involved in the Junior Cycling Malaysia programme
To ensure that it happens, he also gave out medals and presented mock cheques to the winners of each category at the end of the race, photographs of which were posted on Cycling Malaysia Magazine's Facebook page.
However, instead of applause, the Minister, and JCM have received a huge social media backlash because the prize money given to kids was low as RM10, with many ridiculing the "measly" amount of the prize money.
While everyone welcomed the JCM initiative, it seems the "measly" cash prizes have enraged hundreds of people on social media
"How does a nationwide event only offer cash prizes worth up to RM300 if you win a gold medal?" and "The Under-9 and Under-11 kids who came in third place held a mock cheque worth RM10. Wouldn't the cost of making a cheque of that size cost much more than the prize?" and "Sports kids get RM20, sports officers can get RM100 million. Kipidap (keep it up) Malaysia." are but some of the few responses the photos have received in the comments section on Facebook and on Twitter.
You can read the rest of the comments, most of them contain foul language, here.
Meanwhile, Khairy has responded to Malaysians on social media
Admitting that while the cash prizes were very small, Khairy said that the JCM organisers chose to do so because "they felt that it was more important for children to have the interest, the desire to win and experience of participation."
Because if they got used to winning cash prizes from a young age, "the children would forget the main aim of competitive sports," the Youth and Sports Minister added.
While acknowledging the fact that there are a few things that do needs correction, Khairy said that the practice of presenting mock cheques to the winners will be stopped in the years to come
Writing on his Facebook page, Khairy said, "We want them to grow up with the right values and attitude. Yes, money is important and if they do well in sports, they will be financially rewarded later on but let's not spoil them from when they are young. Let them want to win for the sake of winning, to be the best not because of money but because of determination and honour."
While pointing out that all the prizes were previously displayed on the JCM website, Khairy added that the "issue of them not knowing or being unappreciated does not arise. Many parents brought their children without considering the prize money, sacrificing their time because their children are interested in bicycling as a sport."