The dominant status of Malaysian Badminton compared with the Indonesian Badminton
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is the Prime Minister of Malaysia who always admires the talent and abilities of the players of his country. Sometimes he himself visits the countries where the players of his country participate in the matches and tournaments.
He had also attended the VICTOR Korea Open Super series tournament in the start of 2011 because Lee Chong Wei, the world’s number one Malaysian badminton player was participating in the event. The wife of the Prime Minister is also the patron of Malaysian
Badminton Federation.
Lee Chong Wei who won the YONEX All England singles title 2011 some days ago. Immediately after this great victory, Najib made a courtesy call to Lee Chong. After his return from England Najib warmly welcomed Lee Chong in his official residence and offered
him grand prize. Najib has said in a press conference that sports are vital for strengthening a nation, a country and overall in the entire World. It is due to the sports that people who even don’t knew each other come close to each other and some get fame
at international level. At the occasion of many international tournaments the cultures and religions of the various countries come in close contact with each other which brings peace in the World. Moreover, the sports play very important role in making the
people of a country kind, hospitable, generous and energetic.
Najib further said that he has strong belief on the transformational power of sports. That is why he is determined to bring change in his country through the sportsmanship attitude. He will try his best to make the sports the part of every Malaysians life.
For the purpose of achieving his goal, he has formed a high-level Cabinet Committee for sports. The chairman of this committee would be Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. Initially, the committee will work for the promotion of
football, hockey, badminton, squash, bowling, gymnastics, aquatics and athletics.
According to Najib, the top athletes of all the sports would be provided with world class facilities regarding residence, health, food and for all other requirements along with utilizing the best training and practicing facilities in Malaysia. At the end
Najib showed great happiness that Malaysia was fortunate to have a National Sports Institute prepared with the advance technology for providing the players all kinds of facilities. This passion and fervor of the Najib for the promotion o0f sports in Malaysia
is not new. Before this in 1986, when Najib was the Minister of Sports, he was given an award for his best performance in the field of formulation and implementation of the best strategies for the promotion of sports in Malaysia.
On the other hand, at present the Indonesian badminton has dismayed the fans of badminton in Indonesia because its players have shown very poor results. The start of 2011 was not good even for the top shuttlers of Indonesia. Taufik Hidayat who is the top
badminton player of Indonesia even could not face off players of very low rankings in YONEX All England badminton tournament. Similarly, the results of Indonesian players in the Wilson Swiss Open tournament also dishearted the badminton loving community of
Indonesia.
If we critically analyze the prevalent situation of badminton in Indonesia, we come to know that the talented and brilliant youth of Indonesia has not lost interest in badminton. It seems there are some critical issues which are required to be resolved for
bringing back the previous glorious status of Indonesia in badminton. The critics have also said that in the presence of key figures of badminton in the Badminton Association of Indonesia, they are unable to understand this grim picture of badminton.
Like the Malaysian government, the government of Indonesia should also treat this issue of badminton on priority basis. Malaysia is emerging among the top sports promoting countries due to the extensive help provided by its government.