Aarhus: Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, with a predominately Muslim population. Accusations of racism stem from racial preferences embodied within the social and economic policy of the Malaysian government, as well as broader tensions between various ethnic groups. The concept of Ketuanan Melayu or Malay supremacy is broadly accepted in the political sphere. (source: Wikipedia)
The toxic political atmosphere and active discrimination against ethnic minorities such as the Chinese and Indian communities have penetrated every aspect of the Malaysian society, and it reached another new ugly level when the Pasir Puteh Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia division deputy chief Borhanuddin Che Rahim made racist comments about the 2019 SEA Games gold medalist on Oct 3 when Kisona and the Malaysian team were competing at the Sudirman Cup in Vantaa, Finland.
After staying silent for few days, the 23-year-old burst into tears in the middle of talking to Astro Arena about the whole incident on Friday.
“I don’t know what to say, I am a human being too. However, I need to shift my focus to the next match, I’ll leave it to my family, BAM (Malaysia Badminton Association), and the authorities to resolve this issue,” said Kisona after the second team training at Ceres Arena.
“I went through a lot of things in my life, from getting injured to competing with my teammates in here,” added Kisona.
“I just hope everyone can continue to support me.”
Kisona was unable to continue her interview with Astro Arena as the incident has a huge impact on her and she couldn’t stop crying.
While the politic has divided Malaysian, sports have brought Malaysian together.
Malaysia’s badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei, was coached by Misbun Sidek during his junior year in the Malaysia national team, and Misbun Sidek played a huge part in developing Lee Chong Wei to become one of the most dominant badminton players in the history of badminton. Sidek also guided Lee Chong Wei to win the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Misbun Sidek has coached Malaysia’s current World No. 8, Lee Zii Jia, when he joined the backup squad in 2017 and 2018.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s 2020 Tokyo Paralympics badminton gold medallist Cheah Liek Hou was coached by Misbun’s younger brother, Rashid Sidek, and they have achieved something extraordinary to clinch gold in 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Above are just some examples of people working together to achieve greatness in badminton regardless of race.
Another good example of working together to achieve greatness was the 1980 Malaysian football team. At that time, Malaysia was a strong competitor in Asian football and has defeated the South Korean team to qualify for the Moscow Olympics. Kids in playgrounds all over wanted to be James “King James” Wong, Hassan, the Towkay Soh Chin Aun, “Spider-Man” R. Arumugam, or “Supermokh” Mokhtar Dahari.
Rakan sepasukan dalam skuad bola sepak kebangsaan
