KUALA LUMPUR: The Youth and Sports Ministry hopes the police can identify and investigate the main motive behind the incident involving national football player Faisal Halim, who was attacked with acid on Sunday.
Its Minister, Hannah Yeoh said her ministry was saddened by the unfortunate incident that befell the Selangor midfielder.
Yeoh urged the police to conduct a detailed investigation to determine the true motive behind the incident.
"For the Youth and Sports Ministry, we are truly saddened by this tragedy, and it should never happen to our athletes or any human being. Therefore, we hope the police will take stern action against the suspect to ensure the motive is identified.
"If the motive is not identified, similar incidents might occur to others. That is why police investigation at this point is crucial," she said when met after the signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the ministry and the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) here today (May 7).
When asked about social media, and how it is seen as a platform that flames hate, Yeoh declined to make any haste decision.
She said it would be unfair to block any social media platform that is said to be the cause of Faisal's mistreatment without knowing the cause of the crime first.
"Sports involve a lot of passion, and winning and losing are common occurrences. I also saw during the issue of the pitch condition at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil where Datuk Hans Isaac received online threats."
"So, for me, let the police complete their investigation, we don't want to restrict freedom on social media because it's unfair to sports fans," she said.