KUALA LUMPUR – “I remember during a group activity, my fellow male athlete would force me to take an item which he purposely placed on his private part,” Sarina Sundara Rajah recalled one of the painful experiences she’s had to endure.
In an exclusive interview with The Vibes, the 1998 Commonwealth Games and 2001 SEA Games gold medallist said this happened when she was only a 14-year-old gymnast attending a routine sports motivational camp together with other athletes from various sports nationwide.
Sarina said she knew what that person did was inappropriate and wrong, but it never occurred to her how to deal with the situation.
When Netflix documentary Athlete A was first aired in 2020, Sarina’s eyes were immediately opened to the significant impact a Safe Sport Act could have on Malaysia’s sports industry.
Athlete A is a documentary about former American gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar who was found guilty of sexually assaulting at least 265 identified victims over two decades.
It is what prompted Sarina to start advocating for a safe sporting environment for all Malaysian athletes.
Since then, she started reading more articles and journals, and began watching documentaries about sexual harassments and abuses happening in sports, which barely result in any action taken towards the perpetrators.
“I train young girls (in gymnastics). I have seen it happen to my friends and I’ve also experienced it before. We should prevent this and everyone should play a part,” she said.
Sarina runs her own rhythmic gymnastics club since 2004, called Sarina Rhythmic Gymnastics Club (SRGC).
The academy’s initiatives are to promote women and girls empowerment through sports by providing a safe space for her students to train with the adoption of a safe sport policy.
“I teach young girls who are as young as three years old. I feel it is important for them to understand the healthy boundaries within touch and verbal communication.
“For someone like me who runs an academy, or even club owners, and any other gatekeepers we should all play a part to protect our children and athletes.”
Sarina recalled the unpleasant experiences she had as a gymnast, when she was ignorant toward the types of behaviour displayed by fellow athletes, coaches, or anyone in position of power, which are right or wrong.
If a certain misconduct – such as sexual abuse, or harassment – was committed during training sessions, there was no way to know who the victim can approach and get protection from, or what kind of action will be taken towards the offender.
“The impact and the trauma that it leaves you, you will carry that for the rest of your life. Without proper help, you won’t be able to deal with it,” she said.
Backing from sports administrators
Sarina admitted that her advocacy work took off after her meeting with the Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu to discuss about the implementation of a Safe Sport Act.
Following their meeting, he was completely on board with the idea and sees the urgency to adopt a Safe Sport Act within the sports fraternity and spoke openly about it with The Vibes.
During an exclusive interview with The Vibes, Faizal stressed that his ministry will take the matter seriously and aim to table the Safe Sport Act in Parliament before GE15, while he still helms the Youth and Sports Ministry.
Sarina has also been invited by the National Sports Institute to give a talk about sexual harassment during their online medical conference in 2020.
“For athletes that have retired many years ago like former national swimmer Cindy Ong or national Olympic diver Datuk Pandelela Rinong, who has reached a certain stature within the diving community, they can talk about the issues without receiving any backlash or penalty.
“But there are so many grassroot-level athletes who are less prominent out there, who are afraid to come forward because they don’t know what is the right thing to do,” Sarina said.
“They would be thinking ‘why should I go through the risk, I don’t know who’s going to listen to me, or I might be dropped off the team’. That’s the stigma around it.
“You feel trapped. There’s always the fear that your career would be at the mercy of the perpetrator. So many athletes would rather drop out of the team instead of lodging a police report.”
Sarina shared that it is also critical for Faizal to appoint relevant and independent individuals to be part of a task force to help his ministry materialise its plan to table the Safe Sport Act in Parliament.
Once the act is successfully implemented, it could help give victims and the falsely accused the assurance to come forward with their case so that the relevant authorities would realise the magnitude of the situation.
This in turn would help the sports industry improve our athletes’ overall performance as they are finally able to compete and train in a safe and healthy environment. – The Vibes, January 7, 2022
