After chairing the meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Sports on February 8, 2007 Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a RM68.7 million “refurbishment” of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury, London into a high-performance sports training centre to be fully operational in April.
Najib said agreement “in principle” had been reached with Arsenal to train the national under-16 football team, which will be the first to use the London centre.
The Weekend Mail, in its first issue after its suspension, carried a report raising the question whether Najib had lied.
This is the report, “TRAINING STINT FOR NATIONAL UNDER-16 FOOTBALL TEAM – Arsenal says it’s unaware of proposal” by Rizal Hashim:
THE proposed Malaysia-Arsenal joint-venture to equip the country’s young footballers with the necessary weaponry to raise their game has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that no formal discussion had been held between the two parties.
This was confirmed through an e-mail response from the communications department of Arsenal to Mailsport on Friday.
“I am afraid we are not able to provide you with answers to your questions or an official club comment, however, I can confirm that the club does not know about the proposed arrangement and furthermore, we have no involvement in any such project,” the statement said.
Upon further investigation, Mailsport discovered the only discussion on the subject was held at Arsenal’s state-of-the-art training centre in Hertfordshire, between a five-man recce team from Kuala Lumpur and the centre manager, Sean O’Connor, just before the Cabinet Committee on Sports Development’s announcement on the proposed stint on Feb 8.
NSC director-general Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz declined to comment but FA of Malaysia general secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad confirmed the only formal contact between the two parties took place when the high-powered group was taken for a tour of the training centre recently.
Ibrahim, who was a member of the five-man team, said the Sports Ministry were in a better position to explain because the proposed stint was part of the Government’s agreement with the powerful European football bloc of G-14, which among others, was to pave the way for Malaysian teams to train with members of the pressure group.
Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, one of the most influential figures in British football, is also the G-14 chairman.
Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said was not available for comment.
Ibrahim said the arrangement was mooted because of the centre’s proximity with the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Brickendonbury, which will be converted into a high-performance training centre.
“We spoke to the training centre manager, O’Connor, about the idea and he told us to discuss with the Arsenal management,” said Ibrahim.
Apart from Ibrahim, completing the five-man team were Ramlan, NSC board member Philip Chan and NSC officials, Mej Muhammad Abdul Rani and David Chiam.
The proposed stint for the national Under-16 team was disclosed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak after chairing a two-hour Cabinet Committee for Sports meeting in Putrajaya on Feb 8.
Ramlan was quoted by New Straits Times on Feb 9 as saying that the English Premiership giant had agreed in principle to the project.
An independent website on the Olympic Games 2012, insidethegames.com, claimed the idea was shrouded in mystery. It can be accessed at www.insidethegames.com/php/free_newsletters.php, while a newspaper, Hertfordshire Mercury, in their issue dated Feb 16, claimed the 13-time English champions had no knowledge of the agreement.
“We have no knowledge of this training camp or these proposals. I can categorically say that we have not been approached by the Malaysian Government,” an Arsenal spokesman told the paper.
The online report is available at www.hertsessexnews.co.uk/ news/mercury/hertfordshire_mercury/2007/02/16/gunners%20on %20target%20to%20train%20 malaysian%20team.lpf
The Arsenal training centre, covering 143 acres, boasts of impressive facilities, which include six changing rooms, a steamroom, a swimming pool with adjustable floor, gymnasium, treatment rooms, massage baths, a restaurant and excellent pitches.
Ibrahim believed FAM technical director Robert Alberts, the driving force behind the Arsenal Soccer Schools in Malaysia, and an agent representing the interests of G-14 and the Malaysian Government, had been given the mandate to negotiate with Arsenal.
The sports facilities at TARRC are expected to be operational by April but a Malaysian daily recently reported that the plan to convert TARRC into a sports centre had hit a wall because an application for permission to renovate the centre had yet to be submitted to the local authority.
What has Najib and the Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman got to say?
It is clear they are grasping for straw to try and justify the stupid idea in the first place. That Najib resorts to such deception is clear reflection of his character – just plain untrustworthy – this is a man that cheated on his former wife, family, Dr. M, and and god knows who else.. This man not only insult the rakyat, he shames his own father and his legacy. The only reason to keep Badawi in power is to prevent this man from ever taking the highest office in the land…
When they could not go ahead with the $490 million refurbishment of the Brickendonbury facilities because of widespread protest from the Malaysian public, Najib decided to do it on a smaller scale so that he can sapu the $70 million so call upgrading of the facilities. But how can he do it when approval has yet to be obtained and most likly not able to get it because of strict green belt preservation laws around the area.[deleted] When Abdul Razak trial begins, we are going to hear alot of info about those deals.
The government has scrapped its earlier plan to extend the textbook loan scheme to all school students, both at primary and secondary level, from next year because of insufficent funding. However, it has the funds for the Brickendonbury sports centre, the parachuting of MatRempits at the North Pole, the idiotic space teh-tarik project and countless other wastages.
The government has chosen to squander public money on grandoise activities which benefit just a few over the textbook loan scheme which can benefit hundreds of thousands of students. But still, idiots like those in Batu Talam refuse to evict it from power.
LIAR! LIAR! Pants on Fire. Caused by C4, perhaps?
Just because he is Msia’s Defence Minister he thinks he has a God given right to associate his statement with the Gunners.
I’ve previously worked at Trafford House overlooking Old Trafford, watched MU’s (then) Div 1 every (well, nearly) home game, and European mid-week matches during Ron Atkinson’s time. Over those 3 years, crossing paths around the grounds occassionally past players as Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins, Stevie Coppell, Norman Whiteside, Frank Stapleton, Gordon McQueen, Goalie Bailey, Arnold Muhren, Kanchelskis, Mike Duxbury etc.. in fact, the best United team NOT to have won the First division…… Despite my insignificant and most remote connection with the great club, I do not think DPM Najib has any greater or substantive connection with Arsenal, certainly not enough to make such a blatant misrepresentation about the training of a Msian U-16 team (do we have such a squad, anyway?) with Arsenal FC at TARRC. In commercial terms, I would call it dishonesty and gross misrepresentation, justifying termination of contract. How do we stop such an untrustworthy politician, a PM-in-waiting, no less. In Msia, he can barge his way around, but he forgot other countries peoples and local authorities don’t work with the “Malaysia Bolih” way.
Cantonese saying: Lor yan tey ke see fatt joh meen pei
Translated: Reflecting off other’s glory
Looks like Malaysia is being run not by No1 or No2 but by those with vested political and economic interest.
Nope….Malaysia is run by Rosmah and Khairy…….
how much do we need to pay arse-nal to play footbutt with our pathetic soccer team eventhough it is under 16? Why cant they admit it that we Msians are not build for soccer? Our mentality wont be there. Soccer is a team game. We wont succeed if we have just one Thierry Henry. We need to mould a whole bunch of 15 fellas at least. Soccer has robbed Msia of many opportunites to excel in other sports like Squash and Bowling. The funds they received could have been well spent on these 2 core sports now. If only Azlina has the balls the size of Gunner’s cannon balls to tell FAM that enough is enough, we will still be served with 3rd world soccer for many years to come.
a perfect display of our politicians’ ignorance – didnt get approval but gave thumbs up first to con the public
these buffoons think they can close-one-eye for projects in UK as well.
rm70 million for a facility in UK, while textbooks for our nation’s future has to be scrapped – malaysia BODOH!
Weekend Mail reporting this!!!!
Mind you, this is a government paper and it is saying the DPM lied.
Like the Chief Justice, I would not on the merits of the report but on the paper’s motive.
Trying to discredit him so that someone else can fill the slot?
In Bolehland we look at motives, not at contents of news items.
Why has Weekend Mail nothing to say about Cobra King or the RM200m plane?
Are we going to be known by our world-class lies?
Government lies about Bumi Equity.
Nasioncom lies about inflated revenue figures. (see Malaysiakini news.)
Naguib lies about Brickendonbury (maybe other things too!)
MITI and Rafidah) lies about FDI. [BTW, NAsioncom boasts of Rafidah’s son link)
Sudah-lah. Memang frus!
liar liar liar….!
how to stop him from lying again n again….?
anyone can bring these [deleted] to court of justice before RAKYAT coffers being emptied…
Najib is facing a crisis of credibility. His credibility has been going south for years now. In fact to be fair to the guy, he could not have lost what he never had. But then politics in Malaysia is not about credibility or integrity. If we insist these be the qualities our Ministers must have, there will not be a Cabinet tomorrow.
The entire Cabinet will need to resign en bloc.
“What has Najib and the Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman got to say?”
Nothing but more of the same. As Ministers from UMNO they are not accountable to the people except to the party’s Supreme Council – and even then it is about who gets how much?
I suggest we look closely at the figure they call “refurbishments” – I am not surprised if some Ministers’ bedrooms in their West London apartments end up being refurbished to impress their Mongolian beauties.
Before we could take on the Europeans, let us excel in Asia first.
For a start, send those U-16 team to train for 4 years in the next Asian Games host country for training to get fully aclamatise . By the next Asian Games all of them would be around 20 years old. Let them compete in the Games. If they fail to get the gold medal, then forget taking on the Europeans.
In fact our mmediate aim is to try to beat Singapore first.
I wonder what is in it for Datuk Azalina and her advisers to be so adamant over the High Level Training Center at Brickendonbury? They fed inaccurate information to the DPM, hoping that with the announcement by the DPM, the HLTC will become a fait accompli, thereby silencing all the critics.
Some commitments must have been given to some powerful people on the development of HLTC and what-comes-may, the HLTC has to be developed and the RM70.0 million spent. Otherwise, I cannot understand the twists, turns and spins, Datuk Azalina and her advisers are going through, to revive HLTC from RM490 million to RM70 million and training in Arsenal, etc.
Now you see why he quotes the 70 million figure. Maybe 20 to 30 million to pay to arsenalas fees; a few million more to make some minor renovations at Brikendonbury and the rest sapu.
“R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez
The Sun
Not a blade of grass has been cut, nor a single pile driven for the proposed Malaysian High Performance Sports Training Centre in Brickendonbury in Hertfordshire, UK, but almost RM1 million of public funds has already been spent.
On top of that, the supposed plan for the national under-16 football team to train at the Arsenal Football Club may not materialise.
The bulk of the money has been paid to St. Albans-based architect and town planner, David Lane Associates, which has sent two invoices — one for RM350,000 and another for RM450,000 — for “work done” to apparently transform part of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) into a mini-sports complex.
The amount does not include the travel expenses and allowances of sports officials who have periodically visited the architect and the site over the past eight months.
This is even before planning application to renovate the centre has been submitted to the East Herts Council.
The professional fees are expected to mount after the submission and when objection hearings take place.
Asked to comment on this, National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz gave his assurance that the expenditure was within limits and has been accounted for.
“We need to make this happen and all these expenses are necessary,” he said.”
RM1 million gone and RM68 million to go!
Let’s see how much of the 68 left goes into ‘anything-but-sports’!
Is the Kamasutra considered sports?