KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian badminton legend Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei has been appointed as one of the new Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) council members, marking his return to the sport in line with BAM’s vision of making Malaysia a global badminton powerhouse.
BAM president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the appointment of Chong Wei along with three other prominent figures was approved by council members during today’s meeting.
The other three new council members are branding and media strategist and former CEO of NTV7 and Telekom Malaysia Datuk Seri Shazalli; a member of EPF’s investment panel and board Tan Sri Gooi Hoe Soon; and partner of Cecil Abraham & Partners Datuk Sunil Abraham.
“They have agreed. They are independent. I can appoint five but we appoint four first with the consultation with the council members. Right now he’s (Chong Wei) put on the council first.
“Once we finalize the committee, logically, if we should put the council members and all the council members including the independent ones where they can contribute the most. So if you think you can contribute on performance, we should put him in performance,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said this at his first council meeting at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia today, where earlier BAM received a Perodua Aruz multipurpose vehicle.
He added that the committees are expected to be finalised by October in line with the next BAM council meeting but some decisions may be implemented earlier.
He also confirmed his proposal to streamline BAM’s committee structure for greater efficiency.
“Yes, my proposal is we look at combining some and having new ones also. Again, I want to be more inclusive in my decision. I don’t want to tell the council member, this is my view and do it. I want to sit down and think properly because the committee to me, the right step is to have the plan. Make sure we adopt the plan.
“Then you get the committee set up based on the plan. So that committee can then execute the plan. You cannot do a committee and then do a plan, right? So this is where you need to think step by step, be methodical in our approach so that we can defend later when we want, when it comes to execution,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul earlier outlined five goals for the national body with immediate targets including winning the 2026 Thomas Cup, capturing Olympic gold in 2028 and reaching world No.1 in three of five categories.
He said the long-term focus is on building a sustainable championship pipeline and promoting a healthier Malaysia.
“Right now, the budget yang given by the government is about RM35 per day per person. That is the budget that’s given to us. Talking to the council members, management and also to players, especially the coaches juga, not enough lah. So starting from 1st of Sept, we are increasing it to about 70 to 75 ringgit. We’re doubling it. So they will get better hopefully nutrition.
“And then support junior athletes’ needs. I think the junior athletes once today they only get about RM300 a month. So we are looking at a program to increase the support up to RM1000 a month,” he said.
