The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) hopes more private companies would step in to sponsor the upcoming Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

OCM secretary-general Datuk Low Beng Choo said the involvement of private bodies, especially Malaysian companies, would be crucial to achieve the target of hosting the best ever SEA Games.

She said apart from big scale sponsorship, companies could also sponsor in small scale for certain sports and venues, to make the 29th edition of the biennial games a successful and memorable event.

"We are looking for cash sponsorship as well as in-kind sponsors, for example people to supply food, drinks, shoes, equipment, logistics etc. SEA Games is a national project, every one of us need to play a role to make it a success.

"We also need to make the participants from fellow South East Asian countries happy with our hospitality and the way we organise the Games to give them a truly fantastic experience," she told Bernama.

It was learned that the Malaysian SEA Games Organising Committee (MASOC), would receive a lucrative cash sponsorship from Ajinomoto Malaysia in the next few days.

In Nov last year, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said MASOC had secured RM56.7 million in sponsorship, consisting RM14.7 million in cash and RM42 million in-kind.

Khairy who is also MASOC Chairman added that the committee need another RM23.3 million in cash to meet the target of RM80 million.

When asked about lack of decorations and signage on the games for the public with just 187 days to go, Beng Choo said more decorations and signage would be placed when the event draws closer.

Malaysia will host the SEA Games for the sixth time from Aug 19-31, while the 9th Para ASEAN Games is scheduled from Sept 17-23. - BERNAMA