Pandelela reveals being bullied by former coach who made lewd jokes

PETALING JAYA: National diver Datuk Pandelela Rinong (pic) has disclosed how she was bullied by a former coach who enjoyed making lewd jokes.

Pandelela said she once called the ex-coach out over his unsavoury jokes, but in return, she was bullied.

“I once had a coach who loved making lewd jokes. Because I was afraid of him, I often stayed silent or just faked a laugh.

“One time, I called him out, but in return I was bullied,” said Pandelela in a series of tweets on Thursday (Oct 21).

Pandelela tweeted how she felt upset that the diving team was not able to do anything about the coach’s behaviour at the time.

“Moral of the story, we need a good leader who can right what’s wrong instead of turning a blind eye to evil, and those abused must speak up please!

“Small voices still matter if we are united.

“We are very lucky that we are being protected safely by our sport association, who cares for us. Happy ending,” said Pandelela.

Khairy Jamaluddin, who was Youth and Sports minister responded to Pandelela’s tweets on Thursday and thanked her for speaking out.

“Thanks for speaking out, Lela,” tweeted the Health Minister.

Recently, Malaysian social media was abuzz over a discussion on rape jokes which involved actor Fauzi Nawawi.

A video of Fauzi in a recent interview went viral, in which he shared about his experience where his character was supposedly raping Raja Farah's character in a scene from the 2007 film Anak Halal, which had been deleted from the movie.

The discussion drew criticism from many Malaysians, who hit out at Fauzi for making light of the rape scene during the talk show.