1. Post-Annual General Meeting (AGM) Updates
Our AGM was held on Saturday, January 18. The members have elected the following to be part of MSA’s 2025 – 2027 committee line-up:
- President: Andrew Chang
- Vice President 1: Mohammad Ali Ismail
- Vice President 2: Azmil Aziz
Committee Members:
- Beverley Hon
- Justin Wong
- Kong Chock Heng
- Muhammad Rasyad
- Ramaraj Sundraraj
- Sreepathy Iyer
- Vannitha Balasingam
- William Kang
The committee convened for their inaugural meeting on Tuesday, January 21, with full attendance. During this session, the President appointed Ramaraj Sundraraj as Treasurer and Muhammad Rasyad as Assistant Secretary, both of whom received the committee’s endorsement.
Currently, the positions of Secretary and Assistant Treasurer remain vacant. The President intends to fill these roles with external appointees, who will not possess voting rights within the committee. This plan received the committee’s approval, and in the interim, Beverley Hon will act as Secretary.
2. Assignment of roles for Vice Presidents
As part of our effort to create clear ownership of responsibilities, the roles of the Vice Presidents will be divided into two focus areas: Operations and Governance & Strategy.
Based on feedback from the recent AGM, the committee recognizes our members’ desire to strengthen governance and establish better transparency within MSA. It is also crucial to provide a clear demarcation of responsibilities between the two Vice Presidents to eliminate potential overlap of duties.
For the benefit of our members, here is a summary of the two Vice President roles as agreed upon by the committee:
Vice President Operations – Mohammad Ali Ismail
Primary Focus: Overseeing MSA’s overall tournament management, ensuring smooth execution of events, and fostering external relationships to support association’s initiatives.
Key Responsibilities:
- Tournament Management
- Oversee the planning & execution of all tournaments, ensuring they meet MSA standards and guideline.
- Coordinate with tournament directors and other stakeholders to address logistical needs.
- Manage resource allocation for events and initiatives, ensuring operational needs are met.
- Set clear criteria for WSC/WYSC participation.
- Sponsorship & Partnerships
- Lead efforts to secure sponsorships and establish partnerships to enhance funding and support.
- Build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including corporate sponsors and educational institutions.
- Youth Development
- Develop and promote youth-focused programs to grow participation and talent among younger players, including preparation for international competitions like the WYSC.
- Drive program to support players to prepare for WYSC and set performance target.
- Build relationship and obtain support from Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Vice President Governance & Strategy – Azmil Aziz
Primary Focus: Driving the long-term vision and sustainability of the association while ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.
Key Responsibilities:
- Strategic Planning
- Develop and oversee the execution of MSA’s long-term goals.
- Identify opportunities to expand MSA’s reach, influence, and impact on the Scrabble community.
- Monitor trends in Scrabble and similar organizations globally to adapt best
practices. - Build relationship & address existing and long-term challenges with Ministry of Education.
- Compliance and Governance
- Ensure all activities align with MSA policies, regulations, and governance standards.
- Monitor adherence to ethical standards and reporting requirements.
- Performance Reporting
- Provide periodic updates to the committee and members on compliance, performance metrics, and strategic progress.
- Marketing & Growth
- Design strategies to increase visibility, member recruitment, and public interest in MSA’s activities.
- Oversee communication campaigns, including social media, website updates, and public relations efforts.
- Introduce innovative ideas and programs to modernize MSA’s approach and attract new players.
3. Assignment of roles for Subcommittees
The committee have also agreed to form the following subcommittees:
Subcommittee | Members & Responsibility |
Tournament | Members: Ali (Lead), Kong, Justin • Responsible for overseeing tournaments scheduled under MSA • Responsible for making decisions in organizing tournaments • Responsible for detailing tournament schedules • Responsible for asset detailing and upkeep for MSA |
Marketing | Members: Azmil (Lead), Justin, Vannitha • Responsible for overseeing marketing materials and promotion of events |
Youth Development | Members: Kong (Lead), Ali, Vannitha, Sreepathy • Cultivating the youth scene in Malaysia Responsible for running events to improve the youth community |
Constitution | Members: Ramaraj (Lead), Sreepathy, Dr Krishna, Alex Tan • Responsible for amending the constitution and releasing the info for feedback • Responsible for liaising with the Secretary for submission of the constitution to the relevant government body |
Ratings & Website | Members: Justin (Co-Lead), William (Co-Lead), Tan Zi Kang, Vannitha • Responsible for overseeing ratings for MSA • Responsible for improving the website and ensuring continuous functionality for the community • Responsible for updating the website for any events and information required for dissemination to the community |
Sponsorship & Government Liaison | Members: Azmil (Lead), Beverley, Ali, Rasyad • Responsible for liaising with MoE and KBS to obtain the endorsement and any funding from the respective bodies • Responsible for seeking sponsorships that may benefit MSA in terms of events or improving the assets in MSA |
4. World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC)
WYSC will be held on August 30 to September 1, 2025, at Sri Kuala Lumpur (Sri KL) International School. We anticipate welcoming around 300 youth players for this tournament.
In line with this, Kong Chock Heng has been appointed as Chairman of the WYSC organizing committee and Director of the Youth Program. He will be responsible for overall preparation and logistics, directing the tournament, and developing our pool of top youth players to secure excellent results in WYSC.
The committee is confident that Kong is well-positioned to make WYSC a great success, given his extensive experience in developing Malaysia’s youth Scrabble ecosystem, his commitment and guidance in helping our top youth players in WYSC 2024, and his role as the Deputy Chief of the WESPA Youth Subcommittee as well as Committee Member of WESPA.
5. WYSC Qualification Criteria
The committee has agreed upon these qualification criteria for WYSC:
- Must be a Malaysian citizen, MSA member, and born on or after 1st January 2008.
- 25 games played in any MSA-rated tournament during September 2024 – June 2025.
- Full participation in the top division of the National Youth Scrabble Championship 2025 (which marks the end of the qualifying period) is mandatory.
- Winning byes (e.g. from Gibsonization and walkovers) will count towards games played.
- Losing byes (e.g. from forfeits) will not count towards games played.
- Games completed in the top division of the NYSC 2025 will count towards the 25-game requirement.
- Full participation is defined as having completed at least 80% of the games scheduled in NYSC 2025. Failure to do so shall result in disqualification from consideration, regardless of placement or post-NYSC rating.
Entry Allocation
As the host nation for the World Youth Scrabble Championship 2025, Malaysia has been awarded 20 free entries. The allocations shall be as follows:
- National Youth Champion (Winner of NYSC 2025).
- 9 slots for players who place 2nd to 10th at NYSC 2025.
- 6 slots for the highest-rated players finishing outside the top 10 in NYSC 2025, with a post-NYSC rating of at least 1600.
- 2 slots for the highest-rated Under-12 Malaysians (defined as born on or after 1st January 2014) with a post-NYSC rating of at least 1600.
- 2 slots for the highest-rated Under-10 Malaysians (defined as born on or after 1st January 2016) with a post-NYSC rating of at least 1600.
Players qualifying under multiple criteria will be allocated based on the highest precedence, preventing duplication (e.g., a player qualifying under both 3 and 4 will be listed under 4).
Discretionary Authority
MSA reserves the right to make the final decision in the event of insufficient representatives meeting the above criteria. MSA will have full discretion in selecting representatives for any remaining unfilled slots.
These criteria are subject to change from the MSA Committee, in the event of any unexpected developments to the World Youth Scrabble Championship 2025.
6. Directory & Criteria for Tournament Directors
MSA previously maintained a directory of Tournament Directors. Our plan is to establish criteria for Tournament Directors and refresh the directory. We also recognize the need to train our Tournament Directors with the Tournament Scrabble Helper (TSH) software to transition away from the AuPair system.
7. Compliance and Governance
The committee takes the feedback from the recent AGM on compliance and governance very seriously. As part of his role as Vice President responsible for Governance & Strategy, Azmil will spearhead an initiative to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for committee members who are directly approached by any parties interested in organizing a tournament. These SOPs will outline processes to minimize potential conflicts of interest.
On top of this, we will also have SOPs for asset management to enhance asset tracking and minimize potential losses.
We also plan to improve transparency by providing regular communications, starting with this monthly update. Additionally, Azmil has expressed interest in conducting a study to identify potential improvement opportunities to further strengthen MSA as a national organization. This study will benchmark MSA against other similar national-level organizations. While this study is currently a lower priority, we will assess our capacity to execute it later in the year.
8. Engagement with the Ministry of Education
The committee acknowledges the need to engage with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to obtain support for the timely inclusion of our tournaments in the PAJSK (Sistem Penilaian Aktiviti Jasmani Sukan & Kokurikulum), and this is a key priority for us. We will re-engage with MOE, as we firmly believe their continued support as a key stakeholder is crucial for our future success in cultivating young Scrabble talents. We also take note of the suggestions to include Scrabble as one of the sports under MSSM. While we understand this might be a long shot, we are committed to promoting the idea to MOE.
9. 2025 Tournament Calendar
We are aiming to release the 2025 tournament calendar by mid-February. We believe we have an exciting lineup of tournaments for our members and are eager to share it as soon as possible. Our goal is to host at least one tournament every month, and one major international event. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities to hold events in other states within Peninsular Malaysia. Stay tuned!
10. National Scrabble Championship, WESPAC, & WSTC
The timing for the National Scrabble Championship is currently being worked out. The criteria for the WESPA Championship (World Scrabble Championship) and WSTC (World Scrabble Team Championship) have yet to be finalized. We are looking at potentially releasing the criteria along with the 2025 tournament calendar in mid-February.
11. Inclusion of Scrabble as a recognized sport under National Sports Associations
We have received suggestions to work towards including Scrabble as a recognized sport under the National Sports Association (NSA). We will explore this opportunity, but we want to set the right expectations for our members. We need to understand the potential benefits, the requirements, and the process for submitting our application to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). We recognize that this will not be a straightforward endeavor and may take some time, possibly years, before we can realize this goal.
12. Communication and Engagement with members
We currently have various MSA WhatsApp groups, which are not actively monitored by the committee. While the committee aims to respond to all inquiries in a timely manner, many of us have other important commitments that require our attention (such as our jobs). We do not intentionally neglect any inquiries in the WhatsApp groups, but we recognize that it is becoming increasingly challenging to respond to every inquiry.
With our plan to produce a monthly communication for members, we will scan all inquiries in the WhatsApp groups and do our best to address them in our communication. This approach will also allow the committee to deliberate on responses as a team. For urgent inquiries, please contact Andrew Chang directly.