It is common knowledge to most that the former Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai is a keen marksman. He has led the Royal Malaysian Police to several World Police Shooting championships. To Malaysian national shooters, state shooters and shooting enthusiasts, he is a man who quietly to let his action does the talking.
Skeet Ace Turns President
Ally Ong, the charismatic, amicable and dynamic president of NSAM, got his first taste of national management of shooting when he was handpicked by Tun Tan Siew Sin as his deputy in 1977. He was then a young, energetic and prolific international skeet shooter. But unlike his fellow shooters, he had an uncanny knack for management competency.
Tun Hanif's Gift to Shooting
Tun Hanif Omar, a former patron of NSAM, an ex-Inspector General of Police and now a respectable corporate figure, is extremely pro-active in sports. Besides shooting, he was an ex-deputy president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia. Tun Hanif saw a future for shooting in Malaysia but he also realised the obstacles faced by NSAM in developing the sport - the stringent firearm laws.
The Master Blaster's Midas Touch
Tun Tan Siew Sin, Malaysia’s longest-serving Finance Minister, was a logical and natural successor to the founder president Tan Sri S.M. Yong for the presidency of the National Shooting Association of Malaysia in 1965. In the fifties until the mid seventies, he was the president of the Malaysian Chinese Association and thus had political clout. He also had a deep passion for the sport, being a big-game hunter himself.
From Hunter to Shooter
The last half of the 20th Century, particularly in the early fifties, marked a paradigm shift for shooting in Malaysia. It signalled a massive shift of interest by game shooters, better known as hunters, to competition shooting. That period could be described as a shooting renaissance, characterised by a new awakening of prestige, numerous fresh challenges and its classification as a medal-winning sport.
