KEPONG MP Lim Lip Eng has slammed Youth and Sports minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu for his response to national diver Pandelela Rinong’s recent tweet about a lewd coach.
Lim said that if the case involving Pandelela had been adequately addressed by the Misconduct and Harassment in Sports Committee and the Athletes’ Commission under the Olympic Council of Malaysia, she would not have brought up the “old stories” of her former coach’s alleged sexual misconduct.
“After all, who wants to bring up the old stories again if the case had been handled efficiently? And since when does justice have a timeline?” he asked.
On Monday (Oct 25) the minister had questioned Pandelela’s move to raise allegation of sexual harassment by her former coach now as the incident happened “long ago”.
“I am trying to understand why after a long time, Lela (Pandelela) wants to put this out in the social media,” he told reporters.
Justice delayed is justice denied
According to Lim, Ahmad Faizal should take heed of the maxim “Justice delayed is justice denied”.
“It is not about how long ago the incident happened because a crime is still a crime, and the fact that the alleged crime happened ‘a long time ago’ should not be used as an excuse.
“In fact, the trend in the country is quite alarming. Recently, a local actor who was featured on a national talk show joked about how he had enjoyed filming rape scenes while in a separate case, a schoolteacher joked about raping his student.
“Both cases clearly show that the Government has failed to address the issue competently and women, including Pandelela, had to take to social media to highlight the issue.”
Lim went on to point out that Pandelela should in fact be applauded for her courage to expose such behaviours and to raise awareness on sexual harassment.
“Perpetrators of such crimes should not go unpunished as this would embolden others to do the same,” he opined.
“Pandelela is older now and she has picked up enough courage to speak out against the crime.
“When she was much younger and lesser known to the Malaysian public, she might have been afraid of being kicked out of the national team for [revealing the incident].”
Lim further proposed that in addition to suspending the coach or having his contract terminated, an independent inquiry be carried out immediately by the Youth and Sports Ministry.
“Would Ahmad Faisal’s comments now discourage other sexual victims from speaking out? I believe there are many more such cases, and for some, it is a trauma they take to their graves,” he lamented.
Last Thursday (Oct 21), Pandelela shared on social media that she had a coach who liked to make lewd jokes, but athletes could not do anything about him because he had the backing of the head coach.
When she eventually did speak up, she said she was bullied as a consequence.
She claimed the coach committed rape seven years later. – Oct 26, 2021.
