All Motorsports Activity To Be Regulated, Races To Only Be Held In MAM Approved Venues

In a press conference yesterday, the Minister of Youth and Sports, YB Hannah Yeoh expressed that motorsports in Malaysia has a huge following resulting in a total of 22 racing circuits being set-up and operated throughout the country. From this 22, only three circuits are managed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports while the rest are managed by the State Government, local authorities, private parties and NGOs.

In view of this, the ministry is looking seriously into making this sport much safer through more stringent regulations. This is following the past few incidents in Dato Sagor Circuit, Perak and Gong Badak Track, Terengganu resulting in loss of lives. 

Last Jan 13, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) had had an engagement session with representatives from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), the Perak State Government, Ministry of Local Government Development (KPKT), Motorsports Association of Malaysia (MAM) and CILIK Motorsports as the operators of Dato' Sagor circuit, Perak with regards to the Implementation of Motor Sports Competitions and Events in Malaysia guidelines. In this meeting which was chaired by YB Hannah, the general consensus was the priority to safety aspects without affecting the potential and development of motor sports in Malaysia.

It was also agreed that the MAM as the only national NGO recognized by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) would list the race tracks in Malaysia that has been audited and certified safe to organise motorsports events in. 

As of yesterday, MAM has also announced four race tracks eligible to host yearly race events namely, Sepang International Circuit (SIC), Sepang Kart Circuit, Morac Adventure Track (Kart Circuit) and City Karting Shah Alam Circuit. There are also an additional eleven circuits eligible to host events based races which are Speedway Plus Circuit, Litar Lumba Rakyat Kuala Selangor, Tangkak Racing Track, Melaka International Motorsports Circuit (MIMC), UNIMAP Racing Circuit, Litar Go-Kart UUM, Litar Permotoran Terangganu Gong Badak, Miri Track Permyjaya, APDCREW Circuit MAEPS, Alyezo Speedzone and Litar Drag Jempol.  

Furthermore, as stated in Section 36 of the Sports Development Act 1997 [Act 576], all motorsports event organisers must apply and obtain a license to run any form of motorsports events from the Malaysian Sports Commissioner's Office. For local events the application has to be made within 30 days from the event date while its 90 days for international events.

Moving forward, KBS would also work actively with PDRM to ensure that all motorsports event organisers would comply with all the rules that have been set before, during and after the event, failing which legal action may be taken. YB Hannah also call on state governments to look into budget allocation to develop this growing sports in each state.