Malaysia’s next great hope for Formula 1, 23-year-old Jazeman Jaafar, is in the midst of trying to secure a drive with one of the Mercedes–powered teams in next season’s calendar. The catch is, he needs at least RM63 million to secure the race seat.
Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, has admitted that his ministry will not be able to bear the financial cost of supporting this dream, and is appealing to the private sector to make this aspiration a reality. Speaking to The Star, Khairy said Jazeman and his father have met him a few times to discuss the sponsorship issue, and he admits that even Petronas is tied up with other investments as well, amidst the drop in global oil prices.
“Honestly, we can’t afford to sponsor him on our own. He’ll need support from the private sector and as F1 is a money game and with the current economic situation, many companies are already not putting that much money in sports,” he added. Nonetheless, Khairy is adamant that he is totally committed to help Jazeman realise this dream, and that he just needs more time to find a way to achieve a solution.
Jazeman Jaafar is a product of the Petronas Talent Development Programme, and has since moved to the Formula Renault World Series in 2013. He is currently in third place in the Driver’s Championship, having notched his first win in the series at Monaco last May.
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in before the 1MDB 790m USD jokes
Khairy, small boy alone has over a billion in RM.
Rosmah alone got about 20 Birkin handbags. And they cost from RM50k to RM500k per handbag. I hear most of them cost Rm500k each.
And here, this nice guy is begging for sponsors?
The Nasi Lemak have woken up now. They just realised, they have been conned big time the past 30 years.
Hello. I am the father of kzm. My son kzm and myself believe we must Bercukur living in Malaysia. UMNO is clean and NOT corrupted. Please do not spread lies. We live in a clean country!
Government got no money now. All sapu left right and center. Now on the verge of going bankrupt. This honest fellow, done well for our country also, got no funding. He should work for the Government first before going racing. Can make big money.
When I was buying a property in London recently, I had to go to the Land Registry to sort out some matter.
The guy at the counter told me, half of London is owned by Arabs and Hong Kong people (China included) and the other half is owned by Malaysians.
He was surprised and told me, it is mainly government servants from Malaysia who buy mult-imillion pound West End London properties. He said some don’t just buy one or 2 but a few each.
I asked him whether it could be EPF as EPF has invested in London, he said he knew about EPF investing in London but these were individuals buying into London West End property.
I wonder how a government servant in Malaysia can buy a 1.5 million pound apartment in London (average price). And that also, some buy a few!
I really want to join Government now. Leave my job as a Doctor and join Putrajaya. If Government servants like this, I really don’t know about politicians. Maybe castles and ranches!
Jazeman, please either join UMNO or be a kerajaan worker. Even kerani also, you can make millions. then go back to racing.
My nasi lemak friends used to tell me that we must bercukur. Nowadays, they don’t think that way. They just realised, they have been conned big time whilst a handful enjoy luxurious lives.
Can always ask Ajib kor to sponsor . He now got 2.6 billion in his account.
No need to go so far. Even in UMNO Wanita, though they keep quiet all the time, the big guns there got contracts worth billions each. Free Billions of Ringgit just fall onto their laps.
I thought their job is to provide striptease services for lelaki UMNO
Now, the kampung people have awoken from their deep slumber. They have realised, blaming the pembangkang and kaum lain has been wrong. It is their own people robbing from them. Now they see the light.
RM63m lekat celahh gigi Kim Jong Jib je, u help me, i help u.
Ha Ha ha. Poor guy. Such talented people but no funding. Whilst people steal RM2.6 billion, we now suffer with talented people but no funding
Don’t forget, this is when the tupai got caught. What about the times the tupai was happily jumping the past 10 years? The tupai would have collected much much more than RM2.6 billion.
Now, we Malaysians suffer with high prices of food and travel and talented people got no funding. Taib of Sarawak alone has US$20 billion wealth (RM80 billion). the don’t penalise him, they reward him with governorship while we all suffer with high rates
Jazeman, do ask any UMNO Minister. Each of them got few hundred million if not billions.
Then if Gov use taxpayer money to sponsor 1 guy just to sit in the car, you pulak will rage Gov waste money.
Hypokrit betul, Malaysians!
Your country make big hoo haa about astronaut. The gay just tumpang Russian spaceship, then he get Datukship and so much of money and fame. You do so much also, your country don’t do this for you?
He shouldn’t have problems with this. Ask and you shall receive.
if you don’t ask, you don’t get. easy as ABC
Sigh, shouldn’t people get more realistic than this? To realize his own dream requiring $63mil from someone else, what a joke. What ever dreams I’m having, I do not ever dream of getting a single cent from anyone else to realize my dream. If he is really good, he would have got the offers straight to his door from F1 teams, not begging for donations (aiseh, derma lagi!). Give him just 10% and he can live a good life until retire. $63mil can feed more than 1000 household in a year with average household income of $5k per month.
Bravo!. You speak what every sane citizen in M Land is thinking. Seeking sponsor = DONATION . What better guidance than to ask our super duper Bugis warrior Ajib kor. He’s the best in getting DONATION.
Sorry if repost.
You just spoke what every sane citizen in M land is thinking. What better way to get DONATION than to learn from our very own Bugis Warrior Ajib kor. Broke Malaysian Guiness World record for biggest donation receiver in the 21st Century.
If we were once a rich country we are not one anymore. Dreamers will not understand the real problems this country is currently facing with reduced exports and forex reserves coupled with the sliding ringgit.
Just schedule a scholarship meeting la.. country bumpkin got it? The guy rich.. one donation already USD700m.
Maybe he can ask from Middle East entity. Ask Najib to get the details of donater.
That is the one time you know about. What about the other times the so called “donation” happened?
What about the other cabinet Ministers and top Government officials?
Your own boss (DAP/PKR) dun agree on political donation act. They themselve dun wan to be transparent.. so don’t talk kok..
you also talk cock what?! At least dont steal from rakyat..not like your slave master bumnoes!
nope bodow, you are wrong.
lim guan eng has accepted the challenge. just waiting for umno guys to response.
now – challenge extended.
visit malaysia & petronas byk duit boleh sponsor foreigner. why not our own. petronas sedar diri sikit malaysian fuel car with your product because of nationalism not because of the quality of your product. now your time to give back to malaysian.
I feel sorry for him. Finding corporate sponsors in Malaysia, at this time, is like trying to find unicorns. Petronas is already pumping a lot of money into the Mercedes team – and is already getting a lot of attention there. So no need to find extra avenues for marketing. Good luck to Jazeman.
Got one big corporate called UMNO. Ever heard of it?. Their boss got 700 million USD donation. What’s a mere 63 million USD then. Ask Ajib kor sponsor . U scratch his back , he will scratch back one.
He must not ask for “sponsorship” but rather “donation”. This way then only can he get money.
RM63m is just only 2.42% from RM2.6b. Kamon Najib, help this man. If u sponsor him I believe Allah will bring more donors to u in return. U can make more money.
x berkat nanti
Lets start raising fund like the broken ferrari project for Jazeman.
Why spend 63 million on one guy in one sport to finish at the bottom? It would be better to spend the same money on a few sports like soccer, badminton, squash and hockey. Besides, Petronas is already getting very good exposure sponsoring the very successful Mercedes F1 Team.
All those comments above are numb-nuts looking down on Jazeman.
He doesnt need any donations (that will create another shitstorm). He can stand on his own w/o tongkat.
He is young and photogenic unlike the previous local successful racer (no disrespect). All he needs is a brand manager to promo him kau-kau, plaster him in adverts and events.
Give him 1 year to do it while continue string success on track. Sponsor money will come and I believe it will be just sufficient. Otherwise Gov should topup the shortfall or can use Kickstarter. At least he showed best effort rather than ask for it first.
Then he can start racing in F1 at 25 (same age as Bianchi). Not too late, not too young.
Malaysians, please dun look down on him. Give up support rather than insinuate he should use his skin colour.
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too bad he’s not chinese.. see alex fail always fail oso got to drive f1 car…
Just wondering. What happens if he wins a podium finish. Does he need to run away when the champagne is sprayed.
No need . It’s grape juice . LOL. Halal one. (I’s all in the mind buddy ).
Nahh that will never hapen
63 mil dream..that is pricey..even ngam ngam has 63 mil sponsor also no use,hard to compete with the big names..maybe like Alex yoong?and like spend several million to be a space tourist dream for an experience?
But I sincerely hope he can find sponsor for his talent..
No hal lah. Amaun sikit je lah tu. 63 millions daripada 2.6 billions. kacang sahaja.
Tahu kan siapa ada 2.6 billions, cepat lah pergi minta DERMA daripada beliau. Jangan buang masa jumpa KJ, jumpa terus taukeh boss besar dia.
P/S- Jangan cari rakyat Msia. Rakyat semua dalam hard core poverty. Ringgit tiada nilai sekarang dah.
he is son of dato…
if usd700m is donation, donate la sikit to jazeman ^^V
this kind of economy you are lucky if someone sponsors you RM63!
Go and take RM63 million and give chance to 1,000 deserving Malaysians then to give ONE boy to play and expensive toy la!
Ask UMW Toyota sponsorship with 1313 units Vios’s profit
Family Kaya like hell still want donation ka?
Waste, go ask your dad for donation wtfuking hell.