Sports – the last frontier to unite Malaysians – is now used to divide Malaysians.

This is what I told the Sports and Youth Minister, Datuk Azalina binti Othman Said in Parliament during the winding-up of the Royal Address debate yesterday.

As proof, I gave three instances:

1. Newly-crowned All-England doubles champions Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong being “forced” by Deputy Sports and Youth Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai to campaign for MCA and Barisan Nasional in the Machap by-election by making an appearance at the “Malaysia Love Badminton Campaign” in Machap on Sunday.

2. Sports Commissioners Tan Sri Elyas Omar approving and registering Malaysian Sepaktakraw Association as a “sports body” under Section 11 of the Sports Development Act 1997 although it violated the law with its very narrow and discriminatory provision in its by-laws.

Section 13.10 of the Malaysian Sepaktakraw Association Constitution stipulating that “Semua Ahli Majlis Tertinggi dan setiap Pegawai dalam Persatuan hendaklah terdiri dari Bumiptuera Warganegara Malaysia” violates Section 2 of Second Schedule of the Sports Development Act 1997 on “Constitution and Rules of Sports Bodies Acting as the Governing or Representative Body of its Sports at National Level” which reads:

“2. Its activities are conducted without discrimination as to sex, race, colour, religion, social origin, language, political inclination or any other opinion held by its members.” Read the rest of this entry »