Abdul Karim speaks to the press. — Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (March 26): The Sarawak government respects the decision of the federal government in declining the offer to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, said Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
The state Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister believes there must be justifications behind the decision.
“The decision has already been made and there must be reasons for it. The hosting of the Commonwealth Games was offered to Malaysia and despite the incentive of USD 100 million in funding (offered by the Commonwealth Games Federation), if I am not mistaken, we are not able to organise the competitions and we respect the decision of the federal government,” he said.
Abdul Karim, who is also Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister, said this to reporters when commenting on the matter after launching electric motorcycles at Borneo Cultures Museum here today.
“If we had a longer time, we would definitely do it. But because it is such a short time, we definitely can’t do it,” said federal Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil last week.