1) A sanction is required by law for any golf tournament in Malaysia and is granted by the national golf association to ensure events follow the rules of the sport. 2) In the past, some event organizers failed to follow the rules, which led to the introduction of sanctions. However, issues have continued with the governing bodies of professional golf in Malaysia. 3) Currently there is uncertainty around which body sanctions professional golf events in Malaysia due to the involvement of multiple organizations in running professional golf tournaments. Clarification is needed to avoid issues like overlapping event dates.

1. FEBRUARY 2014 GOLFDIGESTMALAYSIA 33PHOTO: CORBIS
THEDIGEST
THELAWOF
SANCTIONING
by V. RAVINDRAN
W
hat is a
sanction? It
is a power
given
by the Commissioner of
Sports under the Sports
Development Act to each
and every governing body
of sports in Malaysia to
control their events, be it
professional, corporate,
charity or fun games.
It is a way to ensure that
the rules of the related sport
- the entrance fees charged,
the prizes awarded, financial
resources, venues, dates and
etc - are fulfilled by the event
organizer.
All these details must be
checked by the respective
governing bodies to ensure
that when any event/s are
sanctioned, the image and
credibility of all parties
involved, including the
State and the country are
protected.
WHY A SANCTION IS REQUIRED
In the past, there were
organisers that eloped which
brought in the Sports Act to
prevent it from happening
again. But after nearly a
decade many things seemed
to have returned to square
one. How did this happen?
Back in 2011 when I was
the general manager of the
Malaysian Golf Association
(MGA), the Olympic
Council of Malaysia (OCM)
and the Commissioner of
Sports (COS) honoured the
Association with the highest
mark in terms of development
- good governance and
sanctioning was one of them.
V.RavindranistheGeneral
ManagerofSamarahan
CountryClubinKuching
andhasservedtwonational
golfassociationsin28years.
THE
OBSERVER
In 2007, when the
Malaysian Professional
Golf Association (MPGA)
was suspended, the venue
hosts of professional
events went into “limbo”
in terms of being able to
host the tournaments
without a sanction.
For the record, the MPGA
was the sanctioning body
for professional events
with a certain percentage
collected as sanction fees.
The MPGA saga required
the MGA to “rescue” the
situation and temporarily
sanction all professional
events in the country for a
mere RM500.00.
MGA’s sanction fees
require a minimum of
RM500.00 and a maximum
figure of RM2,000.00.
Professional tournaments
like the Iskandar Johor
Open, Negeri Masters,
Terengganu Masters and
the Selangor Masters were
all part of MGA’s assistance
to keep the professional
game going.
However, there were
parties dissatisfied by the
efforts of the MGA. Although
suspended, the MPGA issued
slanderous press releases,
accusing the MGA of making
millions of Ringgit from
sanctioning fees.
They even went a step
further to file a lawsuit
against the MGA. Justice
was served though, as the
case was ruled in favour of
the MGA.
The de-registration of the
MPGA saw the birth of the
PGAM (Professional Golfers
Association of Malaysia) at
the end of 2010 to replace
the MPGA.
But just when things
seemed to return to normalcy
the Professional Golf of
Malaysia Tour (PGMT) was
registered to run a local
professional tour a year later.
Now the “big” question is,
when MGA was temporarily
sanctioning professional
events it got sued by MPGA
but what about the PGMT -
are the events sanctioned and
by which body?
Currently, many events
need sanctioning under
the Act and have to avoid a
clash of dates. There were so
many amateur tournaments
in 2013 which saw a clash
of dates. This resulted in
a poor number of entries,
postponements and last
minute cancellations. Why
and where have we have gone
wrong? Shouldn’t things be
better now when we have
three golf associations? GDM