PUTRAJAYA – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh vows to ensure the safety of athletes from all forms of abuse and harassment.
Her assurance comes after independent men’s singles shuttler, Soong Joo Ven’s encounter with online abuse.
World No 50 Joo Ven received multiple threatening messages through his social media account following his defeat against Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen at the recently concluded Spain Masters’ qualifying round.
The 27-year-old player shared on his Twitter account, on Saturday, screenshots of the messages containing vulgar words as well as death and rape threats upon his family members.
This is the reason why sometimes I’m scared of ig. Some people will curse and swear on you/your family which is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/zw8ornE8Cr
— Soong Joo Ven (@soongjooven) April 1, 2023
Yeoh stressed that online abuse is also within the scope of harassment and abuse stated in the Safe Sport Code.
As such, she assured that a Safe Sport Code safeguarding officer could proactively help Joo Ven lodge a complaint against the abuser.
“Of course (the officer can take a proactive measure). The Safe Sport Code handbook has already stated the steps to file a complaint.
“If the nature of the complaint has a criminal aspect, the police will conduct the investigation, or the athletes could escalate the case to their respective national sports body.
“I have not discussed this case with the safeguarding officer because I am not aware of it, but I will make sure to find out more information after this,” she said at a press conference here, today.
Yeoh added that since the Safe Sport Code came into effect last month, she anticipated more cases would come forward as time passes.
“When there is awareness, there is a high possibility to have more complaints and encourage more victims to come forward.
“As and when the complaints come forward, we will also make improvements to the code. It is not a perfect document.
“For the Youth and Sports Ministry, where there is a violation of the code, we can take internal disciplinary action. The perpetrator may not be charged under a certain law, but a sports body may take a proactive approach towards those who violate the Safe Sport Code.
“This will give perpetrators something to think about before they commit any harm towards our athletes,” she added.
This would not be the first time a national athlete is on the receiving end of online abuse as former national gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi had also been a victim of cyberbullying in 2021 after sexist comments were made on social media about her attire at the Tokyo Olympics. – The Vibes, April 4, 2023
