The Standard Chartered KL Marathon will be held on Oct 4 — its original date — after an earlier date change prompted a massive backlash against the Youth and Sports Ministry.
The ministry had tried to have it pushed to Oct 10 to coincide with the inaugural National Sports Day.
Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Facebook that he had seen all the feedback on the date change and held discussions with the organisers as well as other stakeholder.
“We have jointly come to the conclusion that the Standard Chartered KL Marathon will be reverted back to October 4, considering the many issues that have been raised,” he said in the post this evening.
He further stated that the National Sports Day was ‘not a political event with a political agenda, like how Teachers Day or Cancer Awareness Month are not.’
“It was not to “hijack” their event to artificially boost participation for the inaugural National Sports Day or to achieve my KPI.”
“We were looking for several iconic events all around Malaysia and we realised that there is a hunger for running events, evident from the spots that have been quickly sold out in these events.”
