Why so hush-hush over Lee Chong Wei?

Is he guilty of taking banned substances or is something more sinister lurking under our noses?

COMMENT

We distrust our leaders because the concept of transparency is alien to them. They may say it’s what they advocate, but they rarely mean it.

Half-truths, noncommittal responses and, in some cases, maddening stretches of silence are the preferred mode of crisis management while a plausible Plan B is hastily hatched and despatched.

And so it goes in the case of Lee Chong Wei, our darling of badminton, who recently tested positive for a banned substance called dexamethasone.

Instead of coughing up the badminton player’s identity, Minister of Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin simply referred to him as the country’s “top athlete”, a big hint in itself, and waited instead for other parties to break the news.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, it makes no sense that some officials are still refusing to name the athlete in question when giving their comments on the doping scandal that has rocked the nation.

National Sports Institute chief executive officer Ramlan Aziz will only refer to Lee as “this particular athlete” even as he vouches for Lee’s “exemplary behaviour”.

Putrajaya (no surprises, here) has also refused to confirm the athlete’s identity despite TV3, The Star and just about every other Malaysian knowing it is Lee.

If, as has been proffered, Lee tested positive for a banned substance he unknowingly consumed or used topically, then why the secrecy? Why the scandalised silence and the refusal to acknowledge the elephant in the room?

Do these ministers and officials not realise that the more they attempt to conceal information from the public, the more it looks like a crime has knowingly been committed?

Any amount of upright (and usually uptight) statements to the press about “zero tolerance”, “accountability”, and “thorough investigations” come off sounding like painfully rehearsed public relations lines that fool no one, especially a growingly disgruntled public that know better than to lap up the sweet nothings of government officials.

Despite what our ministers and sports officials think, Lee’s fans run into the hundreds of thousands and many are rooting for him, hoping he comes out of this scandal with some semblance of dignity and already forgiving him for unknowingly having taken a banned substance.

Many still see him as the nation’s pride, Malaysia’s proud son of badminton and a sportsman of high repute.

Even council members of the Badminton Association of Malaysia have registered their utter frustration at being kept in the dark as to the identity of the athlete.

Is it not somewhat pathetic that BAM council members have to hold an emergency council meeting Sunday to talk “officially” about what remains the unofficial identity of one of their athletes?

Dexamethasone has already been identified as a steroid medication with anti-inflammatory effects and not a performance-enhancing drug. So Lee used it to soothe an ache, not boost his performance on the court.

The world survived Lance Armstrong, Florence Griffith Joyner, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Trevor Graham. These athletes knowingly ingested banned substances.

Our Wushu exponent Tai Cheau Xuen failed a drug test because she unknowingly took a banned substance. If this is also the case with Lee, isn’t it about time Malaysia stood up for him instead of whisper in corners, too embarrassed about the international humiliation?

The cloak-and-dagger manoeuvrings are uncalled for. So are mysterious meetings that no one wants to own up to.

Since no answers are as yet forthcoming, are we to assume the meeting our minister had with Lee was not over the doping scandal but over something with more serious undertones?

There is already unpleasant mutterings about match-fixing involving a Malaysian fixer. A police report on the matter has already been lodged by the Badminton World Federation after two Danish players complained about being approached to “throw” a match.

The silence surrounding Lee is doing nothing to dispel our fears that something larger and far more humiliating and criminal is lurking in the shadows.

Time for some answers, please.