DAP chimes in on PAS’ netball fiasco

DAP wants PAS to review their decision to ban male audiences from netball games in Kelantan.

DAP’s Assistant National Publicity Secretary and MP for Kulai, Teo Nie Ching wants to know how PAS would deal with other sports that involve active movement, like badminton, basketball, and track & field, and what purpose does PAS have behind the ban.



“Or perhaps the purpose of the Kelantan government is to bar women from being watched? Netball is a healthy sport. Provided all the female athletes are properly attired for the game, why should they be ashamed of participating in front of a mixed-gender crowd?”, she asked in a press statement.

She also gave examples of female Muslim athletes who have competed at the world level such as Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina and German footballer Fatmire Bajramaj.

Listing their accomplishments in the Olympics, Teo posed the question that “There are many more respectable and outstanding Muslim female athletes around the world. Why should we bar them from being seen by the world?”

She encouraged the Kelantan government to “widen its horizon” the same way Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei had rescinded their ban on female athletes competing in front of mixed-gender crowds in the 2012 Olympic Games. -FMT