KUALA LUMPUR – “Know your rights and don’t be afraid to defend it,” urged former track queen Datuk Marina Chin to athletes who have suffered sexual abuse and harassment.
She encouraged victims, as well as witnesses, to not hesitate in speaking up and lodging a report to the authorities.
Speaking at the Safe Sport Dialogue organised by Sarina Rhythmic Gymnastics Club (SRGC) yesterday, Marina added that athletes need to understand what they can do and whom to report to when faced with such situations.
Awareness on safe sport, the former Bukit Jalil Sports School principal said, also needs to start with young athletes.
In doing so, she explained that parents need to pay attention to their children’s behaviour and educate them to recognise inappropriate forms of verbal and physical cues from their fellow teammates or coaches.
“When I was in Bukit Jalil Sports School, I did a programme for children to explain about relationships between a boy and a girl. I also use that platform to cover topics on sexual abuse and harassment.
“As parents, you need to listen to your kids. A lot of people take it as a joke when children report to their parents about something that made them feel uncomfortable.
“It is important to explain to children the different forms of abuse and harassment and to educate them more about these issues.
“I’ve had athletes come up to me and said they’ve been victimised. So, I brought it up to relevant authorities for further action,” Marina said.
In 2017, Marina headed a task force to study issues pertaining to sexual and psychological harassment of athletes involved in high-performing sports programmes.
The 2nd of October arrest of a 35-year-old diving coach, who was accused of raping a national diver on September 26, triggered the creation of the task force.
Changing the mindset
Selangor princess Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, who also joined the panel discussion, said sexual abuse and harassment should not be a taboo subject and “there’s no shame in talking about it”.
More important, she said, is to feel safe and be able to voice out when something is wrong.
“Safe sport is about protection and prevention. It’s also about honesty, integrity, and transparency.
“The reality is there are predators out there and we need to bring them out so the authorities could take (the necessary) actions,” she said.
Tengku Zatashah, who has been a strong advocate for women empowerment and spearheading the #SayNo2Plastic campaign, wanted society to be able to have an open dialogue about the subject so that victims would not be afraid to come forward.
“We need to change the mindset. Athletes need to unite so that their voices can be heard.
“This doesn’t just happen to girls, but boys too. And they’re even more afraid to come forward because people think it’s taboo.
“So we need to educate our society to openly discuss it instead of just letting it slip by and do nothing,” she added.
Speak up, report
Former national gymnast Sarina Sundara Rajah when met at the dialogue session said there are still many athletes who are not aware of their rights to voice out.
It is also believed that they are afraid to speak up because they fear being dropped from the team, being ridiculed by the sports fraternity, or realise that no serious action would be taken towards the perpetrator.
“We need a law that could protect athletes, including young ones, as well as sports clubs and associations.
“We should make reporting (of sexual abuse and harassment cases) mandatory.
“Even if we have a special committee that handles these cases, the members of the committee should be independent. It cannot be someone who holds other positions in other sports associations,” said the SRGC founder.
The former Commonwealth gold medallist has been actively leading the safe sports campaign to have the Safe Sport Act adopted in the country.
Being a victim of harassment herself, Sarina opined that athletes should have a safe environment to train so they could focus on competing in tournaments with strong physical and mental health. – The Vibes, March 28, 2022
