2026 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Malaysia rejects offer to host Games
Published on: Saturday, March 23, 2024
By: Agencies
The Youth and Sports Ministry announced through a statement that the decision was made at the Cabinet meeting on Friday after considering all aspects of hosting the Games and their implications.
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia has rejected the Commonwealth Games Federation’s (CGF) offer to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The Youth and Sports Ministry announced through a statement that the decision was made at the Cabinet meeting on Friday after considering all aspects of hosting the Games and their implications.
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It added that the economic impact of hosting the quadrennial Games could not be identified in the short term.
The ministry also announced that the Madani Government wanted to focus on sports development and the welfare and well-being of the people for now.
“The CGF delegation met the Youth and Sports Minister (Hannah Yeoh) and held a briefing session regarding the offer to host the Games, which was also attended by the Finance Minister II (Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan) on Feb 5.
The Malaysian government, however, expressed its appreciation to the CGF for offering it the chance to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had said on Friday (March 15) that the government would scrutinise the details and obtain the views of all parties, including the Youth and Sports Ministry, before making a final decision on the offer to host the Games.
The state of Victoria in Australia, which was supposed to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, withdrew last July due to an increase in hosting costs, from the initial expectation of A$2.6 billion (about RM8.09 billion) to A$7 billion (about RM21.78 billion).
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The Victoria government was also reported to have agreed to pay A$380 million for breach of contract when it could not host the Games scheduled to be held from March 17-29, 2026.
Following that, the CGF offered a fund injection of £100mil (RM602 mil) to Malaysia, which hosted the Games in 1998, and other member countries to try and save the quadrennial Games.
Not only Victoria, India also was not interested in being the replacement host for the 2026 edition while Alberta, Canada also pulled out from the 2030 Commonwealth Games bidding process a week after Victoria’s withdrawal.
Of the 74 CGF member nations and territories, only England, Canada, Australia, Wales, New Zealand, Jamaica, Scotland, India and Malaysia have hosted the Games.
The CGF earlier this month hailed Malaysia’s “fantastic track record”, the country having staged the Games—which mostly includes former British colonies—in 1998.
But the CGF also suggested that Malaysia was not the only country it had approached to host the Games.
Singapore recently said it was “assessing the feasibility” of the CGF’s proposal.
The wealthy city-state also holds the Formula One night race annually and will be staging the World Aquatics Championships in 2025.
The prospect of Malaysia stepping in to host the Games had sparked fierce debate.
Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria, president of the Commonwealth Games Association of Malaysia, had called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that could put Malaysia back on the sporting map. But doubts emerged last week over the idea after current and former senior officials expressed reservations.
Khairy Jamaluddin, a former youth and sports minister, rubbished the idea and called it “reckless” because the Games are coming up fast, leaving little time for planning.
Any host would need at least four years to upgrade venues, plan sponsorship and set up infrastructure, he said.
“The Commonwealth Games is not a significant, marquee sporting event,” he added.
“As far as multi-sports Games are concerned, it is nowhere near the Olympics or even the Asian Games in terms of participation, exposure and returns,” Khairy said.
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