FOR a sport that produces little by way of success, Malaysian athletics sure knows how to manoeuvre itself into the spotlight.
In more recent times MAAU has found itself embroiled with the Armed Forces AAA in its drive to be registered as a sports body and regain membership of the national body.
MAAU deputy president Karim Ibrahim has also seen his bitter personal feud with IAAF High Performance Training Centre Asia director Musa Mohd Noor burst out into the open.
And MAAU's secretive sponsorship deal announced recently has left many scratching their heads as to how, when and to whom the money will be disbursed.
Not since the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, when Malaysian track and field athletes were running the roost over their Asian rivals, has the sport achieved anything of note.
The occasional success at the Sea Games is nothing to crow about especially since the biennial regional games is no more a yardstick to measure the progress of Malaysian sports.
But MAAU president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim is keen on reminding anyone who listens that athletics contributed seven gold medals in Korat, one of the highest to the Malaysian tally of 68 gold.
That seven gold medals however pales in comparison with Thailand's 17 and even Vietnam, a backwater in sports just a decade ago, who won eight.
Of Malaysia's seven gold medallists, only high jumper Lee Hup Wei and hurdler Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian can be considered prospects for the future.
That is just two athletes out of a population of 24 million. Hup Wei and Rayzam, though still young, cannot carry the future of Malaysian athletics on their shoulder alone.
Track and field in the country lacks a spark as there is no one else setting the tracks ablaze or anyone emerging from the ranks of the juniors to capture the imagination in the way Datuk Dr M. Jegathesan did all those years ago.
Poor planning and funding has often been cited as a reason for Malaysian athletic's alarming decline into oblivion.
Ever since MAAU's messy divorce from Rakan Sukan partner Resorts World Berhad, other sponsors fear to step into the black hole.
But out of the blue MAAU announced last month of a 10-year tie up with Octagon Asia to the tune of RM5 million, ostensibly to fund grassroots programmes.
No doubt the sponsorship agreement is a step in the right direction but it leaves far too many questions unanswered.
The deal is shrouded in mystery as, apart from Karim, no one really has a clue as to what it entails. Karim's determination to keep the terms of agreement under lock and key and away from prying eyes has baffled MAAU insiders and affiliates.
The deal itself was done in such secrecy that it caught everyone by surprise as even the MAAU board and council were kept in the dark.
As to when MAAU will see the funds start flowing in is anyone's guess and it also leaves open the question of transparency and monitoring of the funds.
It is precisely for this reason the National Sports Council, hitherto the main source of MAAU's funding, has asked for a copy of the agreement, only to be rebuffed.
There is also the controversy of MAAU preventing the Armed Forces AAA from re-joining it before the Dec 14 elections.
The amendment of the MAAU constitution to allow office bearers to serve three years instead of two and do away with staggered elections has also raised eyebrows.
This was a change which was introduced after the MAAU was suspended by the Sports Commissioner in 2002 and the fear is that athletics, despite the infusion of RM5 million, is heading backwards again.
Even worse, one name keeps cropping up when affiliates are questioned on what is happening but surely, athletics can't be about this individual alone.
If it is, then we should simply forget about the sport and focus on those which are genuinely interested in bringing honour to Malaysia.
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