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As proud as I am seeing our Malaysian athletes on the world stage, the toxic comments made by some Malaysian keyboard warriors for the world to see has only left me feeling secondhand embarrassment.
Throughout the Paris Olympics 2024, our nation’s participating athletes have been nothing short of impressive. Meanwhile, Malaysians at home have been very unsportsman-like on social media, criticising national athletes who lost, berating our Minister of Sports Hannah Yeoh, and even taking pot shots at opponents of other countries on their social media accounts.
As a proud Malaysian, the condescending remarks made about our local heroes and fellow athletes around the world are an embarrassment. Quite frankly it’s a negative image of Malaysians that is now on display for the world to see.
Not only do our Malaysian cybertroopers tarnish our prestige reputation in the world of sports, but they also contribute to harassment, cyberbullying, and toxicity to our own sports heroes.
Here’s a rundown of the list of sore loser & unsportsman-like comments from Malaysians on social media:
Malaysians threw insults at Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano
Malaysians flooded Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano’s Instagram page with angry comments after he collided with Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom during the Keirin event finals, dashing Malaysia’s hope for a third bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Some netizens accused Nakano of poor sportsmanship, while others accused him of playing dirty and acting unprofessionally.
Some of them left comments in Bahasa Melayu, with one telling him to “pencen” (retire). A comment on a photo of Nakano posing with the Japanese flag, which has over 10,000 likes, even urged netizens to boycott Japan.
In response, the brother of Shah Firdaus, Ridwan Sahrom, who is also a track cyclist, urged Malaysians to refrain from attacking the Japanese cyclist. Shah Firdaus himself has also urged Malaysians not to attack the Japanese cyclist, echoing his brother’s sentiments and calling for calm and understanding.
Shah Firdaus posted on his Instagram, saying, “Last night, he messaged me saying he was getting attacked (on his Instagram). He messaged me saying, “I thought Malaysians were nice people.” This made me feel guilty,” shared Shah, especially because he and Shinji are friends.
Photo by andy cheung/getty images
Shah went on to explain what really happened. “The collision did happen, there was ‘body contact’ and that is normal in keirin. And it was unintentional actually, because of G-force,” he explained. G-forces are the gravitational forces that act on a cyclist when turning at high speeds.
“When I checked his profile, there were already tens of thousands of hate comments. I felt guilty and so embarrassed. I hope netizens stop saying these comments because this behaviour (will come back to haunt us).”
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Following this, it had been erroneously reported that Nakano posted an apology video on TikTok, but Shah Firdaus has since clarified that the TikTok account which issued the apology was fanmade and has since been deleted.
It’s appalling that online abuse is still so prevalent in the world of Malaysian sports. But wait, that’s not all!
Malaysians criticised Lee Zii Jia for not getting gold
Lee Zii Jia has delivered the second bronze for Malaysia, but let’s not forget that he had faced immense pressure and harsh criticism from Malaysian fans just 2 days before, when he lost to Thailand’s badminton world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, missing out on the chance to bag Malaysia its first gold medal in a heartbreaking semifinal match.
The criticism ranged from disparaging his play style and calling it “disappointing” to comparing him to other badminton greats such as Lee Chong Wei.
However, many Malaysians did not know that he had been mentally affected by the criticism until he held an interview with reporters after his bronze medal win against India’s Lakshya Sen.
@astrogempak Lee Zii Jia menitiskan air mata ketika ditemu bual oleh wartawan Astro Arena. You did very well and the best Lee Zii Jia 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 #SokongMalaysia #OlimpikParis2024 ♬ original sound – Gempak
Overcome by emotion, the 26-year-old couldn’t hold back streams of tears when speaking with reporters after his victory. In the 2-minute long interview, he reflected on his journey and the harsh criticism he has endured from Malaysian fans:
“I came this far. Every morning when I wake up, I see so much news about myself. I kept wondering what I did wrong. Whatever the media wrote about me, I told myself that I’d just keep silent because I knew I would prove it to them,” he said. The Kedah-born badminton player added that despite the constant pressure he faced, he was still determined to make his country proud.
“Although this was not the medal I wanted to win, it’s definitely a start for me. I’ll come back stronger and aim for Gold for the Los Angeles Olympic Games later,” the young athlete finished.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has urged everybody to stop criticising national shuttler Lee Zii Jia. Instead, Hannah said Malaysians should celebrate his achievement of winning the second bronze medal for Malaysia at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“Can we as a nation celebrate the fact that this young man has come a long way, picked himself up and now made it to the Olympics podium?” she implored.
Malaysians criticised Hannah Yeoh for taking a photo op with Kunlavut Vitisarn
However, instead of taking her words to heart, these Malaysians only doubled down on their toxicity and criticised her for recently congratulated Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who won silver for Thailand in men’s singles badminton at the Paris Olympics.
In an act of sportsmanship, Yeoh wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday, 6 August, “Congratulations @kunlavut.v for winning silver in Paris 2024. I enjoy his style of badminton so much. So calm and collected. He has a new fan in me!”
Malaysians wasted no time in criticising Yeoh, bringing up her IG post of a photo op with the Thai medallist, arguing that she shouldn’t publicly support a “rival” against Malaysia’s athlete, as it is “insensitive”.
Image via hannah yeoh (instagram)
In response, Yeoh shared a series of Instagram Stories, where she pointed out that true sportsmanship involves celebrating winners, acknowledging rivals, and maintaining honour even in defeat.
“We are not sore losers. When the competition has ended, after receiving your medals, you celebrate the winners. Sportsmanship is about accepting loss when all is fair and being able to acknowledge your rivals in a respectful manner,” she said in her post.
“Be honourable even when we lose. So, to our ASEAN neighbour Thailand — I say to you again, ‘Congratulations! We should be lifting each other up’,” she added.
Yeoh emphasized that her role as minister of Sports is to instil a healthy sporting culture for Malaysia’s youth, and that there is nothing insensitive about acknowledging a rival’s strength after the competition.
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The Youth and Sports Ministry received just RM1 billion for its 2024 budget, small relative to what other ministries get. Over 60 per cent of it goes to operating expenditure and just RM460 million to develop programmes and infrastructure.
Feeling disappointment or anger at a loss is acceptable, but this is one instance where some of our Malaysians take the judgement and criticism too far. It’s perfectly okay to vent the frustration, but when Malaysians start harassing others out of a feeling of petty revenge, it oversteps the line into toxic territory.
Can we all agree that in the next Olympic event, we will learn how to accept defeat with humility and self-respect? At the same time, remember that we did bring back a ton of medals this round, and we should celebrate our athletes for making us proud.
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Read also: M’sian Badminton Duo Snatch Bronze Win From Jaws of Defeat at Paris Olympics 2024
M’sian Badminton Duo Snatch Bronze Win From Jaws of Defeat at Paris Olympics 2024
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