KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — The Olympic Council of Malaysia’s (OCM) first Executive Board meeting for the 2021-2025 term today agreed to relocate their headquarters to a more “accessible” place in the next three or four years.
OCM president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the new headquarters would be a sports hub featuring office spaces and high-performance training facilities to cater to all the needs of their stakeholders.
“We will move our headquarters to somewhere more reachable or accessible by our stakeholders,” he told a press conference after the meeting, which was then followed by new Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu visiting Wisma OCM today.
The nine-storey Wisma OCM, which was built in 1991 in Jalan Hang Jebat here, houses the OCM office and several sports associations, besides having other facilities like a few halls as well as the Olympic Hotel that is managed by a third party.
Meanwhile, OCM secretary-general Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib said the board fully agreed with Norza’s decision to relocate, possibly to the Putrajaya or Bukit Jalil area.
Asked about the rationale for moving further away from the heart of the city, which is closer to most of the National Sports Associations’ (NSA) offices, he said OCM were looking for a non-congested area that would have all the facilities under one roof.
“The idea is to sell this building and the proceeds will go towards building the new facilities... I can share this only. This area will have the Merdeka 118 skyscraper soon... will be more towards a financial district, while Putrajaya is also building more sports facilities and sports hub there.
“We are looking at a newer building because this building is old, the upgrade and facility management of this building cost half a million (ringgit) a year, very costly for OCM. So, we are looking for a building that is big enough to cater to all the 56 affiliates under OCM, so we will have co-working space and common facilities that will be available for them,” he said.
He also disclosed that deputy president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, who is also the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president, had been appointed the new Marketing, Sponsorship and Relocation Committee chairman to work on the details.
Previously, it was reported that FAM also planned to move from their current premises at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya to Soccer City, Putrajaya by 2023, which would also house the offices of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Asean Football Federation (AFF).
Norza, meanwhile, said that the board also agreed to continue to pursue the athletes’ pension scheme, modernisation of OCM and NSA management as well as explore the organisation of multi-sports Games with some of the neighbouring countries.
He also announced the chairperson for the OCM Standing Committees and chef de missions (CDM) for upcoming multi-sports Games.
OCM assistant secretary-general Moira Tan will be the CDM for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics while Malaysia Rugby president Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya and Malaysian Wushu Federation president Datuk Chong Kim Fatt have been appointed as CDMs for next year’s Commonwealth Games and Asiad respectively.
Chairperson of the respective OCM Standing Committees:
Selection: Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria
Marketing, Sponsorship & Relocation: Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin
OCM Multi-Sports Games: Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya
Women and Sports: Datuk Mumtaz Jaffar
Building & Facilities: Datuk Chong Kim Fatt
General Purpose & Awards: Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad
Sport Museum & Hall of Fame: Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin
Management & Administration: Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib
Finance: Datuk Ahmad Feisal Ahmad Tajuddin
Education & Training: Moira Tan
Strategic Planning: Datuk Mohd Nasir Ali
Legal Advisory, Disciplinary & Alternate Dispute Resolution: Datuk Seri Jahaberdeen Mohd Yunoos
Medical & Anti-Doping: Datuk Dr S.S. Cheema
National Olympic Academy: Nicholas Chan
Chef de Mission:
Olympic Winter Games (February 2022): Moira Tan
Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games (March 2022): Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin
Commonwealth Games (July-August 2022): Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya
Islamic Solidarity Games (August 2022): Datuk Ahmad Feisal Ahmad Tajuddin
Asian Games (September 2022): Datuk Chong Kim Fatt
Asian Youth Games (December 2022): Datuk Mumtaz Jaffar
SEA Games (TBC): Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad (replacing Hamidin) — Bernama
