Credit : Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's X
KUALA LUMPUR, October 30, 2026 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said the long-abandoned Sekolah Sukan Malaysia Perlis (Perlis Malaysia Sports School) project will be completed this year and can begin to be used, more than a decade after construction first stalled.
In a post shared on X on Friday morning, Anwar recalled his visit to Perlis in April last year, when the then Menteri Besar raised the issue of the abandoned sports school with him, and said he had ordered an immediate solution.
“Masih saya ingat tatkala ke Perlis pada April tahun lalu dan Menteri Besar ketika itu bangkitkan mengenai projek terbengkalai Sekolah Sukan Malaysia Perlis, dan saya arahkan penyelesaian segera,” he wrote in Malay. He added, “Insya-Allah, tahun ini Sekolah Sukan Malaysia Perlis siap dan boleh mula digunakan,” meaning that, God willing, the school would be finished this year and could start being used. The post was accompanied by a short video.
An order made in April 2025
The school, at Bukit Chabang near Padang Besar, has been a long-running problem for the state. On April 27, 2025, speaking at the Perlis state-level Aidilfitri MADANI celebration in Kuala Perlis, Anwar said the project had been left unfinished for more than ten years and that he had decided to hand it to a capable company linked to Khazanah Nasional Berhad or Permodalan Nasional Berhad, with whatever allocation was needed to finish it, according to reports by Utusan Malaysia and RTM at the time.
In a Facebook post on the same day, after chairing a special state development meeting with the Perlis state leadership, he said the sports school project, abandoned for 12 years, had to be handed over immediately to a capable government company.
MRCB brought in as rescue contractor
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh said in June that the project, approved under the 10th Malaysia Plan in 2011, had been abandoned three times before the government appointed Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) as the rescue contractor. He said MRCB received its letter of acceptance from the Ministry of Education on January 15 this year, with 12 months, until January 14, 2027, to complete the first phase at a cost of RM55.5 million, Utusan Malaysia reported.
The first phase includes 12 classrooms, science and sports science laboratories, four badminton courts, a multipurpose open court, a football field, a running track and an archery range, as well as two hostel blocks for 224 students, warden quarters, a dining hall and a temporary Islamic centre, according to a briefing by MRCB to the Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail, reported in August. The school is named after the Raja Muda, Menteri Besar Abu Bakar Hamzah said in June.
Handover set for January 2027
In early August, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar said after visiting the site that the first phase was between 85 and 90 per cent complete and on track for completion in January 2027, Berita Harian reported. The MRCB briefing said construction was expected to be finished by the end of August 2026, followed by testing and commissioning until January 2027, before the buildings are formally handed over to the Ministry of Education on January 14, 2027.
Wong said the school is expected to take in about 200 students in its first intake and will start with six sports: athletics, football, badminton, sepak takraw, archery and netball. He said the government had also approved RM104 million for a second phase under the 13th Malaysia Plan and Budget 2026, covering facilities for hockey, lawn bowls, rugby, football and volleyball, plus 12 more classrooms, hostels and quarters.
The state government has described the school as a catalyst for sports development in Perlis, giving young athletes in the state the training and education facilities they have long lacked.
Source : Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s X (https://x.com/anwaribrahim/status/2115988106474393631), with details from Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, Bernama, RTM and Suara Merdeka.
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