The International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) has terminated the membership of the Singapore Sepak Takraw Federation (PERSES), citing “grave misconduct within Perses’ leadership”.
As a result, PERSES no longer qualifies to be an affiliate of the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), meaning participation at major events like the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games becomes problematic.
The SNOC has since said that it would set up a major games preparation committee to ensure athletes are not impacted by the brouhaha.
In a statement on 28 November, ISTAF said the decision was made at their executive committee meeting on 4 November, following misconduct among the leadership of PERSES.
“Earlier, the Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASTAF) had suspended PERSES president Mohd Nasri Haron for 12 years and PERSES secretary-general Zahid Abdul Aziz for seven years, besides suspending the federation until further notice.
“The suspensions were made after undergoing disciplinary proceedings under ASTAF, which found serious violations of the rules,” ISTAF revealed in a statement on 28 November.
ISTAF said PERSES had also been told to ensure Mohd Nasri and Zahid vacate their offices within 90 days, in addition to being banned from being involved in any management or PERSES activities.
However, the duo continued to be involved in the federation’s activities, including the annual general meeting on 14 October and this clearly contravened the suspension imposed by ASTAF.
“Their actions clearly violated several articles in PERSES’ constitution, thus affecting its integrity and governance standards,” said ISTAF.
There is history between the parties involved.
In November 2019, Nasri ousted veteran official Abdul Halim Kader 12-9 at the PERSES’ elections for office bearers.
That was a huge blow for the PERSES strongman, after a challenge by Nasri, who was his own protege whom he brought into the association.
Halim himself had been president of PERSES since 2000, except for a spell from 2013 to 2015.
During that period, he was the association’s secretary-general, a position he also held from 1982 to 1999, meaning he has been entrenched in PERSES for almost 40 years until he was ousted by Nasri in 2019.
Halim has been the ASTAF president since 2004.
He is also the ISTAF secretary-general.
Halim told the Straits Times: “For Singapore to regain ISTAF recognition, there firstly needs to be a new PERSES with a new multiracial leadership team, registered with the Registrar of Societies and get NSA (national sports association) status before it can apply for ISTAF membership.”
MAIN PHOTO: TMSG file