KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — The Malaysian contingent’s official attire introduced by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) recently, which the public has condemned as "ugly and uninspiring”, will not be used in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 26, said Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.

She said there is another set of official attire for the event and insisted that there should be no comparison of her leadership approach at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) with that of former sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin because she felt that all ministers had their own way of steering a ministry.

"His time (Khairy) was his way and every leader has a different way. I respect OCM as a stakeholder. Reading the comments (some), thought this is the parade uniform (but actually) there is another set for athletes. We have shared the views of the Sports Ministry with (OCM president Tan Sri) Mohamad Norza (Zakaria).

"We have to respect OCM and their sponsorship contract with Yonex and I leave this to Mohamad Norza and I believe he can solve it (so that) when we go to Paris, we walk as a team (and) the world at large don’t see us as OCM nor KBS (but that) we are all there to uphold the name of Malaysia,” she said after launching the National Women’s League (NWL) for the 2024 football season at Lalaport, Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) here today.

Khairy, the youth and sports minister from 2013 to 2018, shared through a podcast (Keluar Sekejap) with Shahril Hamdan about his role in organising the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games yesterday.

Hannah also insisted that there was no need for deputy chef de mission (CDM) Datuk Nicol Ann David to replace Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin as CDM as the latter is a person of calibre in his leadership.

"Comment on social media, if there is a problem, the proposal to drop a person is not the right way because we must identify the cause of the problem and, in this case, Hamidin is not the cause. To me, Hamidin was only being attentive (he listens to every problem) and that is important,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hannah also urged police to speedily release the investigation findings on the acid attack against Selangor FC footballer Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim.

"So long as police have not announced the findings, it not only perturbs the Sultan of Selangor, I have heard the opinions of many, sports fans too, they too want justice, to know the progress of the investigation.

"That’s why I urge the police to hurry up, inform the public so that this case can move on to the next stage. If we still don’t have the findings, people cannot move on because Faisal Halim is a national asset,” she said while hoping for Selangor FC’s appeal process in the Super League to run smoothly.

Yesterday, Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said he was disappointed and saddened by the decision of the Malaysian Football League (MFL) and members of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM, especially its president Hamidin), regarding the fine imposed on Selangor FC for failing to play in the Charity Shield match on May 10

Sultan Sharafuddin said he was very upset with MFL’s latest decision, which he considered to be irresponsible, made without compassion, inhumane and showed no concern for the cruelty that occurred. — Bernama