Three Singaporean fin-swimming coaches face a prison sentence and a fine for falsifying documents that helped unqualified swimmers to participate at the Cambodia 2023 SEA Games.
They were due to be charged in court over their suspected involvement in abatement by conspiracy to commit forgery for the purpose of cheating. If found guilty, they can be fined and face up to 10 years in jail.
And in neighbouring Malaysia, the authorities are on a different tangent, They are quickly avoiding any reasonable criminal investigation into the case of falsifying documents that illegally ensured seven foreign football players were given citizenship to allow them to represent the nation.
Instead, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and their sympathisers are lamenting about the fines imposed on them by FIFA, that was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sports, as harsh.
The differing stance in how both nations tackle such issues in sports is not an isolated problem but one that ails many within the global sporting fraternity.
India refused to travel to Pakistan to play in the Champions Trophy cricket championships last year due to safety reasons and the International Cricket Council (ICC) went out of the way to ensure that the matches between the two nations are played in neutral Dubai.
A year after that, last month, Bangladesh refused to travel to India for the T20 World Cup, again for safety reasons, and the ICC took the easy way out by replacing them with Scotland.
Cricket sponsorship from India is huge, and the ICC likely see that as an overriding factor in their opposing decisions.
Many countries have been dead against the inclusion of Russia in the Olympics because of their invasion of Ukraine. But these are the same countries that have been virtually quiet on whether Israel should be barred for their invasion of Palestine.
And now there is also a complete silence from the same guardians of world peace with the American invasion of Iran.
They now justify that it was important for global peace that Iran does not possess nuclear capabilities. An oxymoron considering that the Americans were and still are the only country to ever to drop, not one but two atomic bombs, on foreign soil.
The American incursion of Iran, has resulted in numerous sports events around the globe being cancelled or postponed. Iran, which had qualified for the FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the US, are now also unlikely to play in the prestigious tournament.
The selective outrage by the sporting fraternity as well as the authorities are laughable but not baffling.
While sports is about rules, it is increasingly certain that same sporting rules does not apply to the administrators and the authorities when it does not benefit them.
Eight countries – Great Britain, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, chose to boycott the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) voted to include Russia and Belarus at the Games.
A minority of the countries that wanted the majority to yield to their stance. It really does not matter the reasoning, sports is about inclusivity and not isolation.
Athletes, should not pay the price for the indiscretion of their governments.
There are loud calls for the Irish football team to boycott their two Nations Cup games against Israel on September 27 and October 4. The Football Association of Ireland have already ruled out any boycott.
But, it was the statement from Irish Minister for Sport, the 48-year-old Patrick O’Donovan, which was more telling.
“The Israeli soccer team are not the Israeli government”, O-Donovan was quoted as he insisted that the Irish Government has no issue on Ireland facing Israel.
In contrast, Andrea Abodi, the 65-year-old Italian minister for Sport and Youth sees the decision by the IPC in Milano Cortina, not only politically troubling but also morally untenable.
But, he has not shown the same outrage against Donald Trump’s flagrant act of war in the middle east.
It is also ironical that the middle east nations have also been rather quiet on the invasion of Iran, as compared to the travesty in Gaza.
For years, most Islamic nations have sought the isolation of Israel from sporting events but now are timid when the Americans are acting in tandem with Israel in bombing Iran, pushing not only sports but also global economy into total chaos.
These selective outrage, sanction and punishment, when it comes to sports needs to end, but it is so deeply entrenched that false pretensions would continue to prevail.
S.T. Arasu is a two-time Malaysian Sportswriter of the Year
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