Paris Games not a failure, but average, says KJ

 

Former youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the performance of the Malaysian contingent was commendable albeit average compared with past achievements. (KS Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Former youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin has defended the performance of the Malaysian contingent at the Paris Olympics, saying their overall showing was not a failure.

Having brought back two bronze medals from the Paris Games, Khairy said the athletes’ performance was commendable albeit average compared with past achievements.

He said the latest medal haul matched Malaysia’s past performances in Atlanta 1996 and London 2012 but fell short of the five medals won in Rio 2016.

“I don’t see this as a failure, but we need to acknowledge that our results were average.

The expectations were high, especially after the success in Rio, but it’s important to keep in mind that those five medals were an outlier in our Olympic history,

 he said in the latest episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast.

Earlier, youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh apologised over the Malaysian contingent’s failure to win the nation’s first Olympic gold at the Paris Games.

Yeoh said an audit report on the contingent’s performance will be tabled in Parliament, but added that the Road to Gold programme was set up for both the Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

KJ, Shahril quizzed by cops

Meanwhile, Khairy and co-host Shahril Hamdan revealed that they were questioned by the police over a Keluar Sekejap episode featuring Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg last month.

Khairy said the investigation centred around complaints on the discussion of Sarawak’s autonomy, with a complainant claiming that the topic supported Sarawak’s secession from Malaysia.

We asked the premier if Sarawak considers itself a country within a country. Someone interpreted that as advocating for separation (from Malaysia), which is absolutely not what we were implying,

 said the former Umno Youth chief.

Khairy said as he and Shahril were pseudo-journalists themselves, it caused a bit of unease over the implication of such probes.

Even though the police officers were professional (in questioning us), we were left worried.

In the past, those promoting Sarawak’s secession from Malaysia had been threatened with investigations under the Sedition Act.

Parti Bumi Kenyalang president Voon Lee Shan has been among the most outspoken figures on the topic, saying in 2019 that it was not against the law to speak about Sarawak’s independence or secession.

Khairy also said the ongoing police probe into a Malaysiakini report on a major reshuffle expected in the police force was unnecessary, adding that the matter should have ended with Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain’s denial of the report.

Isn’t this a little over the top? Even speculating on Cabinet reshuffles has never led to such scrutiny in the past. - FMT