KUANTAN, Jan 21 — The Pahang government is also moving in the direction of getting Muslim athletes to don Shariah-compliant attire, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail. 

He said this was called for by Islam and was a good move more so as more and more Muslim athletes were embracing Shariah-compliant sporting attire.

However, he said the matter would be fine tuned first with the relevant experts like the state mufti, Shariah experts, academics and sports associations giving their inputs.

He was speaking to reporters after opening a seminar today on Shariah-compliant attire for sports, at Kolej Universiti Islam Pahang Sultan Ahmad Shah here, which was attended by 480 participants including coaches from the Pahang Sports Council.

If all goes well, the move is expected to be implemented from April starting with schools.

The sports listed are silat, fencing, archery, shooting, golf, wushu, tenpin bowling, taekwondo, judo aquatics, equestrian, netball, athletics, basketball, badminton, squash, volleyball and sailing. 

Pahang’s neighbour Terengganu, which is ruled by PAS, an ultra-conservative Islamic party, last year had also stated that it wants Muslim athletes in the state to don syariah-compliant attire starting this year.

However, the Terengganu government did not give an enforcement time-frame. — Bernama