At a packed media conference to announce the launch of the Champions Youth Cup in 2007, I posed a series of questions to the then youth and sports minister Azalina Othman Said to justify spending RM17 million on a football tournament that brought no benefits to the country or the development of sports.
When no plausible answers were provided, a PR man tapped me on the shoulder and took away the mic after which the minister quipped: “If you don’t like our policies, stand for elections.”
Needless to say, the tournament was a flop but Jonathan Price, the UK-based promoter collected his money and laughed all the way to the bank.
The stench from the misuse of power and money in the past could be felt a mile away through “projects”.
Among them, was a grandiose plan to...