Task force farce. Empty words. Fading patience.
Malaysia Athletics (MA) said it would “look into” the long-unpaid RM5,000 cash prizes owed to sportsmen and sportswomen of the year between 1966 and 1982.
But weeks later, there are no names. No timeline. No meeting.
And no clarity on whether the youth and sports ministry, the national sports council and the Olympic Council of Malaysia are even on board.
The delay cuts deep. For the nine athletics icons, every day without answers feels like another act of erasure.
The silence is worse than denial.
M Rajamani, Malaysia’s first sportswoman of the year in 1966, said the wait feels endless. “A task force without action is not recognition, it’s postponement.”
Race walking legend V Subramaniam was sharper still. “We are not asking for miracles, only for a decision.
“If you call it a task force, show us the names, show us the timeline. Otherwise it’s just another way to keep us waiting.”
This delay stings because it revives old betrayals. Athletes were told their awards would be honoured.
They trusted. They waited. And now, they wait again.
Not a task force, just a stall
The very phrase “task force” was meant to sound decisive. Instead, it feels like bureaucratic theatre.
A task force implies urgency. Expertise. A crack team that moves fast in crisis.
Floods, pandemics, security threats, not cash prizes withheld for half a century.
This issue does not need an inquiry. It needs closure.
The evidence is already public. The athletes have spoken. The records confirm the awards. The broken promise is plain.
So why the performance?
If MA truly wishes to form a body, then call it something that reflects respect for the athletes rather than the theatre of delay.
A “legacy panel” would show this is about preserving honour. A “recognition committee” would put the focus on respect.
An “athletes’ rewards panel” would make clear the purpose is to settle what was promised. A “settlement committee” would signal closure, not postponement.
Any of these would signal intent. Instead, we got “task force.” A phrase that drips with bureaucracy, not justice. And the athletes know it.
They have lived long enough with excuses. Amateur rules in the 1970s. Budget constraints in the 1980s. Sponsor red tape in the 2000s. And now, procedural delays in 2025.
Different decade. Same pattern.
Every delay deepens the damage
Every other sport has moved. Hockey has repaid its man. Cycling has pledged to pay its champion. Badminton and bowling are clearing their debts.
Only athletics stalls.
And every day of silence chips away at public trust. How can MA demand faith in its future when it cannot even settle its past?
The stakes are larger than RM5,000. They are about credibility.
When officials talk of “integrity” while dragging their feet, the gap between word and deed gapes wider.
They are about memory. Every delay risks pushing these icons further into obscurity, when they should be carved into our sporting story.
And they are about respect. Not ceremonial respect with flowers and speeches. Tangible respect, delivered in ringgit, as promised.
Officials talk about “not prolonging the issue.” Yet prolongation is exactly what is happening.
Promises once made should not have to be begged for decades later. The future collapses if the past is left unresolved.
Closure is not complicated. MA can call the athletes. Verify the list. Calculate the amount. Put down the plan. Pay.
Not another meeting. Not another statement. Not another apology.
Because the longer this drags, the clearer it becomes: this is not a task force. It is a farce
M Rajamani, 1966 sportswoman of the year, receiving her award from then deputy prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein. Her frustration over the promised RM5,000 reward that never came, keeps growing.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
