PKR & PAS must stop ogling at athletes’ bodies: No proof sports attire leads to promiscuity

MCA Religious Harmony Bureau is taken aback by the questions and demands by PAS and PKR Members of Parliament regarding dress codes for Malaysian national athletes whereby there were unverified accusations by PKR Lumut MP Mohd Imran Abdul Hamid who declared that  “outfits may result in promiscuity among athletes” while adding that “you may score marks on the international sports arena but you will not score marks in the afterlife (Star Online, 16 Nov 2015).”

As a retired First Admiral of the Malaysian Royal Navy, surely Mohd Imran comprehends the importance of uniforms for discipline, abidance and conformity when issued by international sports governing bodies.

PAS Rantau Panjang MP Siti Zailah Muhd Yusoff takes a step further when she asked if outfits worn by national athletes be syariah-compliant and her demand that the government should have guidelines and implement them with regard to athletes' attire. PAS Youth chief Nik Abduh Nik Aziz ventures deeper when he demanded that Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaludin  must be brave to implement syariah-compliant outfits for at least 2 or 3 categories.

Do international World Cup football qualifiers Saudi Arabia who wear standard football costumes which includes short pants and other Arab nations which participate in the Olympics impose syariah-compliant sports costumes on their athletes?

Do PKR and PAS MPs expect Malaysian sportswomen to be fully clad and constrained in Taliban-inspired and enforced burqa-like outfits? What empirical evidence or scientific proof are PKR and PAS able to produce to support their misguided assumption that sports attire which do not match their ultra-conservative demands will cause an increase in promiscuity? One can be fully draped up and promiscuity, vice activities and sexual offences can still occur if any perpetrator is unable to control his/her sexual urgings or fantasies.

Sports participation and winning are based on meritocracy and heeding the rules and regulations imposed by the sports governing bodies. Overly loose, baggy outfits which shrouds an athlete’s body will hinder his/her speed, movement and agility eg swimmers, sprinters, field sports, cyclists, the list is endless.

How may Malaysian athletes even conceptualise participating in any international sports tournament if their sports attire are modified deliberately to placate religious-politico hardliners but fail to heed the rules and regulations established by the respective sports governing bodies?

Instead of scrutinising on the anatomical physique of an athlete’s body and wondering if the attire worn leads to promiscuity,  Nik Abduh, Siti Zailah and Retired Admiral Muhammad Imran should outline programmes for youth development via sports participation, in view of the high unemployment rate in PAS-ruled Kelantan state, or the instances of jobless youths descending into street crimes or becoming mat rempits.

Datuk Sri Ti Lian Ker
MCA Religious Harmony Bureau Chairman
MCA Central Committee Member