SEAGF stands with decision to reject Malaysia's proposal

KUALA LUMPUR: The SEA Games Federation (SEAGF) Council today has rejected Malaysia's proposal to host the 2017 SEA Games and Asean Para Games, concurrently.
SEAGF chairman Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar said nine of the 11 member countries have opposed the proposal, stating that among the reason for the rejection was due to the tradition and culture that has long been maintained by SEAGF.
"When it came to the discussion concerning the issue, many countries had shown their interest but when it was time to vote whether to accept the decision, nine countries voted to support yesterday's decision.
"While two others (Malaysia and Laos) agreed," he told reporters after chairing the SEAGF council meeting, here today.
Earlier, Tunku Imran said that Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had re-appealed to the SEAGF Council at today's meeting after the SEAGF Exco Meeting rejected the proposal, yesterday.
When the proposal was put to a vote during the exco meeting chaired by Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria yesterday, only Malaysia voted in favour while 10 other affiliates did not support the proposal.
"Khairy in his capacity as Chairman of the Malaysia SEA Games Organising Committee (Masoc) addressed the council and made a plea to reconsider the proposal," said Tunku Imran.
Meanwhile, Tunku Imran, who is also the OCM president, noted that the council had agreed on Malaysia's decision to have 38 sports with 405 events for the 2017 SEA Games which would be held on Aug 19 to 31.
Besides that, the council had also received a complete report on the 2011 SEA Games from Indonesia.
"During the meeting, the Philippines confirmed that they will host the next SEA Games in 2019," he added. — Bernama