Pandelela Rinong (left) and Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam (right)
PETALING JAYA: Pandelela Rinong has called on Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam - the teenager behind the #MakeSchoolASaferPlace movement - to be alert against saboteurs out to derail her efforts.
“Dear Ain, I strongly advise you to stay alert as you might get sabotaged if you are not careful.
“However, keep speaking up for our future, ” Pandelela said in a tweet on Sunday (May 9).
The Sarawak-born diver noted that she too faced challenges when she spoke out against sexual harassment.
“Just like when I was trying to #makesportasafeplace, I was being called a DIVA, with double meaning, ” she said.
The diver, who became the first Malaysian diver to win gold at the Diving World Cup in Tokyo on Wednesday (May 5), was responding to an outcry against nasty comments on Ain’s Facebook, labelling her as a "hypocrite" and event "satan’s spawn wearing a headscarf" as well as telling Ain’s parents to teach her manners.
Pendelela posted a screengrab of a tweet by former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman urging the authorities to be bold and take action against those responsible for the remarks against Ain "before it's too late".
Ain's father Saiful Nizam Abdul Wahab had, on Sunday, posted on Facebook several screenshots of comments which he said were made by a woman.
The woman called Ain a hypocrite and a rude daughter on a poster of an online forum called "Speak Up!" where Ain was donning a hijab.
"Such a hypocrite, the devil's child wears a hijab. Teach your rude daughter," the comment read.
Ain had tweeted earlier that she had received a first warning letter for her expulsion for not coming to school for three days.
Ain, who goes by @ant33ater on Twitter, said she was disheartened that the school that she loved had acted against her for speaking up.
The 17-year-old student had recently called out a male PE teacher in her school for making a distasteful and dangerous joke about rape.
Just like when I was trying to #makesportasaferplace, I was being called DIVA, with double meaning. Dear Ain, I strongly advice you to stay alert as you might get sabotaged if you are not careful. However keep speaking up for our future!
