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So-o long, Clement

Clement Soo, one of the longest administrators of a national sports association in the country, is calling it quits after 33 years of involvement in karate.

Clement, who initiated the formation of the Malaysia Karate Federation (Makaf) in 1978, said that he would step down as the secretary-general ahead of the upcoming biennial general meeting (BGM) in Malacca on March 20.

Clement Soo: Also resigning as vicepresident of the Asian Karate Federation.
 
He is also resigning as vice-president of the Asian Karate Federation (AKF).

The 64-year-old Clement has been the secretary-general of Makaf since 1990 and he said that he was not seeking re-election to make way for younger blood.

“I think it’s enough already. It’s time to let someone younger take over and show that he is also able to serve the association well,” he said.

“My only involvement in karate after this is to conduct karate lessons.”

Clement was the first national coach when Malaysia took part in the inaugural Asean Championships organised by Indonesia in 1979 and the team emerged as the overall champions.

Clement, who started practising karate in 1966, took the initiative to consolidate all the various clubs under one umbrella by organising a pro-tem committee meeting in 1978 and Makaf were formed.
Makaf later amended their constitution in 1984 to allow state registered karate associations to become members.

His decision to leave Makaf may come as a surprise to the karate fraternity but it could be sparked by the recent controversial move by the technical committee at the beginning of the year to oust coach P. Arivalagan.
Arivalagan’s contract was not renewed as foreign expertise was sought in an attempt to bring Malaysian karate to greater heights.

National exponents threatened to walk out of the squad if their coach were removed and it was only after the intervention of the National Sports Council (NSC) that a compromise was reached to allow Arivalagan to stay on until the end of the year.


Clement expressed his unhappiness with the initial decision of the technical committee not to renew Arivalagan’s contract as he was not informed of the meeting in the first place.

While Clement’s only regret is that the affiliates could not work together, he will want to remember the high points when Malaysia made a breakthrough with a two-gold medal show at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

“We managed to keep up the standards in Busan in 2002 and in Guangzhou last year. I’m happy that I helped to bring the level of Malaysian karate to be a powerhouse in Asia.
“We were behind Indonesia but things have changed.

“We never failed to contribute significant gold medals in the SEA Games and Asian Games.
“T. Ponniyah was my student before and he passed the torch to his son, Arivalagan, to take over the national squad. In fact, most of the heads of karate groups were trained by me.”

Clement was also the former referee council chairman of the AKF and the first Malaysian to become a qualified World Karate Federation (WKF) referee.


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