'Sexy' sports attire may lead to promiscuity among athletes, say MPs

KUALA LUMPUR: National athletes should wear syariah-compliant sports attire as the dressing for some events are "too sexy", which could lead to promiscuity among athletes, say several lawmakers.

The issue was raised in Parliament by Mohamad Imran Abdul Hamid (PKR-Lumut) who chided Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on the current attire worn by athletes in certain sports.

"You may score marks on the international sports arena but you will not score marks in the afterlife," he said in Parliament on Monday.

Mohamad expressed fears the outfits worn may result in promiscuity among athletes.

Siti Zailah Muhd Yusoff (PAS-Rantau Panjang) wanted to know if the outfits worn by national athletes would be syariah-compliant in line with the Government's implementation of a syariah index.

"We should have guidelines and implement them with regard to athletes' attire" she added.

Nik Abduh Nik Aziz (PAS-Pasir Mas) joined in the chorus when he urged Khairy to be brave in implementing syariah-compliant outfits for at least two or three categories.

Khairy said there were no such guidelines in place, but athletes had to adhere to international regulations.

"We have no policy with regard to sporting outfits, but the attire worn must not go against international regulations set up by respective sporting bodies," he said.

He noted that there had been no reported cases of promiscuity due to the attire worn among national athletes.

Khairy also said that the national women's netball team had changed their outfits to be less revealing.

In June, a social media storm erupted over the attire worn by national gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi after she won gold at the SEA Games.