SC can only take action against sports associations, not police or stadium - KJ

The Sports Commissioner (SC) can only take action against sports associations not against local authorities or the stadium management, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Khairy, apparently taking a swipe at Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah's call for equal responsibility be shouldered by the FAM, police and the stadium management said just like the FAM who can only take action against affiliates and not stadium or police, the scope of the Sports Commissioner too is limited.

"For example, if flares are thrown by fans during a M-League match, the FAM punishes the team...FAM does not suspend police. So, it's the same in the case of the Sports Commissioner.

"We can only ask the police to beef up security in the future," he said when asked to comment on Tengku Abdullah's statement that the FAM should not be entirely blamed for the unruly behaviour of the fans during a 2018 World Cup Asian Zone Qualifying match between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia at the Shah Alam Stadium on September 8.

Tengku Abdullah had also questioned the Sports Commissioner’s decision to issue a show cause letter to the national body for the unruly behaviour of fans at the Shah Alam Stadium and requesting the National body to respond within 14 days or face possible action, including suspension.

The show cause letter was allegedly sent to the FAM on September 9 by Sports Commissioner Datuk Zaiton Othman.

Khairy had demanded that FAM give a solid statement within 14 days of an ugly incident that took place at the Shah Alam Stadium during the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying match between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia which was called off by the referee due to crowd trouble when Saudi Arabia was leading 2-1.

Match referee Liu Kwok Man from Hong Kong decided to stop the match in the 88th minute due to security reasons and safety of the players when fans started hurling smoke bombs, flares and rocket parachute flares onto the pitch.

Speaking of the shocking exit of former world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei from the Korean Open, Khairy said Chong Wei may need a little more time after having served an eight-month suspension for a drug offence.

"We cannot Chong Wei to win all the time...he is human too. We need to give him time. He came back on started winning, now suddenly he lost, so something might be wrong. He needs time to adjust himself," he said when launching the MyRapid Challenge programme in conjunction with the National Sports Day on October 10.

Chong Wei who was beaten in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open by his arch rival Lin Dan of China, suffered a shocking 19-21, 19-21 straight sets defeat at the hands of South Korea's unknown player Heo Kwang Hee in the qualifying round, on Tuesday.