Female athletes free to choose attire during training but tournaments have regulations, sports minister tells PAS MP

Yiswaree Palansamy
·2-min read
Malay Mail
Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — The Youth and Sports Ministry does not restrict female athletes’ choice of sporting attire for their training activities, its minister Hannah Yeoh told Parliament today.

Responding to PAS MP Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden, Yeoh said that this however does not apply to competitions as they are subject to rules and regulations.

“My opinion is that in this sport, the most important thing is that in the issue of clothing, it must provide comfort to the athlete first and another, is safety ... For me, personally, I do not have a problem if diving athletes want to wear different clothes for training or anything.

“However, what is important I feel, is when they go for championships, they have standards which they have to abide by. But for trainings, I have no issues,” Yeoh said.

Yeoh was replying to the Islamist party’s Alor Setar MP, who asked about Yeoh’s stance on granting Muslim female athletes the option to wear Shariah-compliant sporting attires.

Additionally, he asked if the ministry could propose the idea of having female coaches train female athletes, in a bid to attract future athletes.

Afnan posed the questions during Yeoh’s ministerial winding-up speech, after she explained the ministry’s efforts in addressing Malaysia’s diving athletes’ performance and its preparations for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

Yeoh added that before making any decisions, she reviews any matter with the ministry’s technical director and other relevant sporting experts.

“Most importantly, I want to show respect to the womenfolk. They can wear whatever they want to exercise; our policy is to allow them to exercise freely,” she added.

Last year, PAS’ state administration in Terengganu was panned for forcing the state’s female gymnasts to compete in the wushu team due to their attire.

The Terengganu state government came up with the controversial Entertainment, Cultural Performances, Tourism and Sports guideline in March 2020 that recommended what Muslim and non-Muslim athletes and performers should and should not wear.

The guideline asked the athletes and performers to dress courteously according to Shariah codes for Muslims, while non-Muslims should not wear outfits that are tight, short or revealing.

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