BAM’s contract woes with their top women’s doubles pair highlights Malaysia’s ‘superclub’ dilemma

The Malaysian sports juggernaut is currently stuck in a cycle of disappointment. Can ignoring its club system be the reason?

For the past several months the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has been struggling to re-sign its top women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, or Pearly-Thinaah as they are known in the sports nomenclature. Their current contract expired in December 2024 and speculation is that the women are considering turning pro and venturing outside the quasi-governmental BAM umbrella.

Pearly-Thinaah are said to be contemplating becoming an independent pair due to offers from outside BAM. Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul is back in the country after leading a Malaysian delegation for trade talk with the United States recently. Earlier, Tengku Zafrul met with Pearly and Thinaah at the ABM on June 13, where he stated that it's important to keep the duo and other top shuttlers in the BAM stable.

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, who has urged Pearly-Thinaah to stay with BAM and focus on winning gold at the 2028 Olympics, had also urged the national body to settle the contract issue fast. Now with Tengku Zafrul himself stepping in, it appears that Pearly-Thinaah are likely to stay put with BAM. New Straits Times, 29 June 2025

As the national governing body (NGB) for badminton, BAM is responsible for developing the sport and liaising with the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the Badminton World Federation. By design, it’s supposed to be an administrative body, however, since its founding in 1964 it has morphed into what I call a superclub, a government-funded NGB that also functions as an elite level club. Its club-like activity effectively sidelines local clubs giving them no meaningful role, vote, or voice in the sport's governance. Decisions related to the sport are limited to BAM insiders leading to stagnant leadership and making it clear to local clubs that their expertise or ideas are not valued.

Having a stable of top-performing athletes makes it easier for BAM to secure support from equipment suppliers and event sponsors, and it raises the profile of the organization nationwide and that of its office bearers. This likely explains why BAM wants to keep Pearly-Thinaah under its umbrella.

Regardless of their decision, the duo will still be eligible to represent Malaysia in international tournaments and the Olympic Games. However, becoming independent will increase their personal financial responsibilities. They will have to pay for their own coaching services, training facilities, most travel expenses, and other services that are currently provided by BAM. The primary factor influencing their decision is understood to be financial, so they must believe that being independent players would offer a better payday.

It is understood that Pearly and Thinaah were exploring the possibility of going independent, having sought a revised salary package on par with BAM’s top earners, believed to be close to RM2 million (USD 450,000) annually. Scoop, 22 June 2025

This situation highlights Malaysia’s superclub problem. BAM operates as a club, albeit a very wealthy one, through recruitment, player salaries, coaching hires, and offering state-of-the-art training services. Top players are recruited to BAM from local clubs; a practice which makes clear these clubs are not really involved in national badminton efforts and giving local practitioners little incentive to care about the success or failure of the NGB. Other Malaysian sport governing bodies engage in similar practices though on a much smaller scale.

BAM also owns and operates the Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM), a state of the art training center for its athletes. A facility like this diminishes the NGB’s reliance on local clubs and shifts development tasks to one specific location under a singular administration.

Governance structures like this limit decision-making to small groups of insiders overflowing with honorific titles and political influence, yet lacking in fresh ideas or current sport expertise.

Recently, New Straits Times sports editor, Ajitpal Singh, wrote about NGB officials who overstay their welcome and rarely make way for new blood:

They're the long-serving officials who may have once had noble intentions but now seem far more invested in holding on to power than pushing the sport forward. Even when they're voted out or claim to step aside, they rarely leave the ecosystem.

They linger behind the scenes, take advisory roles, or pull strings quietly, waiting for the right moment to reinsert themselves. And reinsertion is almost guaranteed. Because in our sporting structure, there are few real safeguards. Rarely having term limits, no enforced succession planning.

Just endless recycling of the same personalities, many of whom have presided over stagnation, if not outright decline. They thrive in opacity. New Straits Times, 28 June 2025

In this environment, fresh ideas, such as clubs being the lifeblood of national sport development, are absent. It seems that the 'secret' to development under the superclub structure is to do the same things they have always done, only better this time, with more money, and more chatter in the media. However, administrators rarely consider that this strategy has never been effective.

But there are rumblings from some badminton illuminati who recognize the value of leveraging the power of a club system rather than relying on a single superclub:

“Thailand already have multiple world champions. They're consistent and capable of winning Olympic gold. Even Taiwan, who also rely on a strong club system, have won two Olympic golds in badminton," said Rashid. In contrast, he warned that Malaysia's talent pool is shrinking, and an over-reliance on the BA of Malaysia (BAM) could prove risky. "We can't depend solely on BAM anymore. Our clubs need to grow and have full-time training programmes, just like in Thailand," he said. New Straits Times, 22 June 2025

Malaysia needs to change its approach to sport development by becoming more inclusive of everyone involved and abandoning its current claustrophobic rule from the top system.

• Is it possible that capable coaches are already working in many of the country’s clubs? BAM spends significant amounts of money to hire foreign coaches. Does an NGB really need to add another layer of coaching to the existing system in the clubs? Malaysia’s top players began their careers in local clubs; there may be club coaches who possess valuable knowledge and expertise who are overlooked in favor of foreign hires.

• Might club administrators and local coaches have valuable insights into how the sport could be better developed? The pool of ideas could be much larger than it currently is. Under the current system, the voices of those with fresh ideas are rarely heard.

• What would happen if BAM became a full-fledged member organization? Instead of carefully selecting members from Malaysian politicians, royals, and other prominent figures, it would become a true national organization where every club, administrator, coach, athlete, official, and anyone who genuinely enjoys the sport could join. This would make more people feel a genuine stake in the country’s sport development and the performance of Malaysian players. Most importantly, anyone could run for office in the organization. Currently, the list of candidates is carefully curated based on money, status, and influence.

The Malaysian sports juggernaut is currently stuck in a cycle of disappointment. Instead of making progress, after each setback efforts are redoubled, more money is spent, and officials deliver empty speeches. It would be helpful if someone finally realized that this approach isn’t working.