Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister identifies reasons as to why there is a lack of Muslim athletes in the country and provides suggestions to ovecome this void.

Datuk Azalina Othman, Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister, describes Malaysia as a moderate Muslim country where Muslim sportswomen should feel free to wear shorts and jump around. Women who find this inappropriate are classified as extremist compared to the modern dress-code she has prescribed for the modern-Malaysian-Muslim-woman-athlete.

Despite direct instructions from God for Muslim women to observe the Hijab (the Muslim dress-code where a woman covers her whole body, save her hands and face), Datuk Azalina decides that women who comply with the dress requirement during sporting events are not being open-minded enough.

The Hijab has become a popular choice for Muslim women in Malaysia as an integral part of their daily dress - as compared to twenty years ago - with the coming of Islam to the country. However, many “moderate Muslims,” as they call themselves, label women with a headscarf as being traditional, conservative and sometimes backward.

Ironically, Datuk Azalina’s advice to young Muslim women to unveil during outdoor activities was not influenced by the widening void of female Muslim athletes, but poverty amongst the Muslim community and their general apathy towards sports. Perhaps then, it would be wiser for her, as the Youth and Sports Minister to consider catering services that would reduce poverty and encourage healthy outdoor activities rather than probe negativities into what Muslim women are obliged to wear.

However, should she really feel that it is a “gender issue,” as she insinuated in a recent interview with the Sun, perhaps she should look into the interests of Muslim women who wish to observe the Hijab.

The ministry claims to have an abundance of resources for sports activities. It may be wiser to channel these allocations into providing space and time for Muslim women to participate in sports without the presence of men.

Since she mentions “it is not all about winning medals,” Muslim women should be free to be athletes and / or sportswomen in the comfort of their own privacy. Should the sporting arena beckon, the ministry should consider channeling their financial resources to designing sportswear that is tailored to the ordained dress-code instead of supplying statements that it is not necessary to “cover up”.

The Hijab is fast-becoming a norm in the West, with Muslims and non-Muslims organisations actively educating the curious mass of the significance of Hijab. It is an established fact that the dress-code is an obligation to God and a right of the Muslim woman. Women-only sports centres and designers like Cindy Van Bremen, have nurtured the idea of Hijab in sports - an amiable trait of growing multi-cultural societies around the world.

Datuk Azalina begs to differ. By allowing Muslim women to wear shorts and run around, the multi-cultural open-minded Malaysia is set to flourish in the sporting arena.

Contrary to her understanding however, being multi-cultural requires society to accept the differences from one faith to another; one ethnic race to the next and blur those lines by accommodating and respecting each follower’s principles within their beliefs.

It is not impossible for a Muslim woman to excel on the field or on the track. Garbed in the required dress-code, Ruqaya Al-Ghasara, won a gold medal in the 2006 Doha games. There are even swimsuits tailored for the practicing Muslim swimmers.

Therefore, instead of worrying that religious authorities will tamper with her “moderate” dress code, Datuk Azalina should pump her innovative ideas and modern thoughts into designing the spirit of sport with consideration of Islamic teaching, as her obligation to the practicing Muslim youth.

The ordained rule is that Hijab is a requirement for the Muslim woman. Yet, as there is no compulsion in the religion, no person can force a woman to cover her hair but only advise her in a kind and gentle manner.

Datuk Azalina Othman has exercised her right to personal choice – by not wearing the Hijab – she enjoys her freedom to jump around in shorts. At the same time however, she demonstrates apparent disregard for the budding Muslim woman athlete - to exercise her right to “cover up” in accordance to Islamic teaching.