M’sian Netizen Calls Out Female M’sian Olympic Shuttlers For Wearing Sleeveless Jerseys, Says They Should Cover Up Or “Be Stripped Of Their Citizenship”

The 2024 Paris Olympics has come to a close, with many celebrating the hard work and triumphs of their country’s top athletes.

One Malaysian individual, however, has come under fire for taking issue with the way their sportswomen were dressed during competition.

In a now-deleted social media post, the netizen shared two photos of badminton players. One featured Malaysian women’s doubles team shuttlers Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in their sleeveless jerseys, while the other featured a pair of conservatively dressed Muslim women.

Their caption, originally written in Malay, read: “May Malaysia make it mandatory for our country’s badminton players to cover their body parts. If they refuse they will be stripped of their citizenship for insulting Islam.”

A screenshot of the post was later shared on Facebook by Malaysian human rights activist, Siti Kasim.

She called out the “offensive and regressive thinking”, adding that she was “not surprised” that there were people of that mindset.

“We must look at the root cause of this mindset. If we don’t cure the root problem, it will continue to infect other roots. Eventually the whole tree will die,” she continued.

Siti Kasim’s post has since gone viral, with many Malaysians agreeing with her.

A good number brought up that both Pearly and Thinaah are not Muslim, and do not subscribe to the same beliefs.

One particularly popular response read: “Your religion does not prohibit me from anything. It prohibits you. Learn the difference.”

Others also agreed that “religion shouldn’t be brought into sports”, and there was nothing remotely insulting about their attire.

“If you’re looking at their skin, you are the problem,” asserted another netizen.

The original post has since been deleted with the netizen deactivating their account, likely due to the backlash they faced.

Pearly and Thinaah progressed to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles event, but fell short of winning a bronze medal after getting defeated by Japanese duo Chiharu Shida and Nami Matsuyama.

Photos: Siti Kasim/ Facebook, __pearlytan/ Instagram

You can rewatch the Bronze medal match on mewatch.