COMMENT | The Club vs the State – Round Two

COMMENT | If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But the Negeri Sembilan government wants to fix a system which needs no fixing. In the process, it is seen as dire a warning - no leased asset is safe. Even golf clubs may just disappear by a stroke of a pen.

In December last year, the state government announced that it would take over the operations of the driving range of the Seremban International Golf Club (SIGC) and will be operated by the State Secretariat.

Since the inception of the club in 1971, the driving range has been an integral part of the club and the course. To suddenly say that it would be managed by the government, has of course not been well received by the members.

To add insult to injury, the letter signed by one Norhisham Rahmat, division secretary of State Services Department, offered to lease the driving range back to the club. The figure being floated is RM5,000 a month - which members considered as exorbitant.

Why this sudden change without consultation? This is perceived by many members as Round Two of the Club vs the State. Round One was in March 2019.

On assuming the post of menteri besar after the general election in 2018, Aminuddin Harun assumed the presidency, the sale of bottled beer came to an abrupt end...