KUALA LUMPUR – The racial abuse thrown by a former Bersatu leader at national shuttler S. Kisona does not represent or reflect the views of his party, said Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker.
Ti, who is the vice-president of Barisan Nasional component party MCA, also urged all parties to not politicise the matter.
“We mustn’t politicise an incident just for the sake of inciting more anger,” he said in his ministry’s winding-up speech on the 12th Malaysia Plan in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“What’s important is we take this as a lesson that Malaysians will not accept and allow such matters to happen again.”
Ti was responding to P. Prabakaran (Batu-PH) who said he hopes the incident will serve as a lesson to all politicians to not racialise sports, saying sports does not care for skin colour, only for quality.
Kisona became a target when former Bersatu Pasir Puteh division chief Borhanuddin Che Rahim spewed racial slurs on social media, lashing out at the shuttler after she lost her match to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.
However, the Malaysian team won the quarter-final of the Sudirman Cup 3-2, before losing in the semis to Japan.
He has since issued an apology and resigned from his position as a division chief, after coming under heavy criticism.
Earlier, Ti said that the ministry strongly condemns Borhanuddin’s action and hopes all quarters will refrain from derogatory comments about any of the national athletes.
“Sports are supposed to promote unity and be an agent to strengthen national integrity. Such action shows a lack of ethics and sporting spirit.
“These athletes have worked hard and given their best for the country. It’s not appropriate to only support our athletes when they are successful.
“We must also sympathise and continue to support them even when they are at the bottom.” – The Vibes, October 7, 2021
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