Sports can unite people regardless of political beliefs

Often people unite over a joint love for things like sports despite their differences on other matters.

Realising this, newly appointed Youth and Sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin has made a call to people, especially youths to put aside their political differences and contribute ideas for the betterment of the sports industry.

“No matter what is your political beliefs, come and have a chat with me. Tell me what are your expectations, what are your ideas.

“That, for me, is how I want to promote national reconciliation. This is the Malaysia’s Sports ministry, not the Barisan National’s (BN) Sports ministry. So, I invite them to come forward and share their ideas,” he has said.

Commenting about this, political analyst from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Dr. Kartini Aboo Talib Khalid agreed that sports is a good tool to unite people.

“There is a sense of nationalism when it comes to sports. It cuts across all ideology and Khairy is banking in on the matter.

“The ideas then can be channelled to lead into social cohesion,” she told Astro Awani.

Kartini also said that Khairy’s call shows his political maturity and openness.

However, Kartini said the dialogue session may not only generate ideas.

“As these youths may have different political ideologies, some of them may be sensitive to certain questions or suggestions.

“The dialouge session may even make some people angry or dissatisfied. But at the en of the day, everyone need to remember that this initiative is for the sports industry,” she said.

She added the dialogue will be a good medium to channel ideas especially for the opposition members as they have been depending on alternative medias such as the social media to state their views.