The Malaysia Volleyball Association (Mava) has revoked Saiful Hadee Amar’s coaching licence after he was caught slapping two of his female players while coaching the Melaka Under-14 girls’ volleyball team.
Mava took the action through its legal and disciplinary committee, and it was approved by the Ministries of Youth and Sports and Education.
In a joint press conference held yesterday at Menara KBS, ministers Hannah Yeoh and Fadhlina Sidek, as well as Mava, announced the decision.
“As an initial step, the sports coach (Saiful) who is also a teacher, will no longer be allowed to be a coach for the sport, including a coach for school pupils.
“The National Sports Council (MSN) and Mava have concluded their investigations and they unanimously decided that the coach should lose his eligibility to coach.
“We do not have anything personal against the coach or the host organiser. We want this incident to serve as a lesson and a deterrent,” she said.
Viral video from livestream
A viral video showed Saiful, 44, slapping two of his players during the recent 2022 Malaysia Youth U-14 Volleyball Championship in Kota Tinggi, Johor, which took place from December 14 to 16.
Mava then barred Saiful from participating in any national volleyball activities until the investigation was completed.
The Melaka Under-14 girls’ volleyball team urged netizens to stop spreading the story, saying they loved their coach and would support him and the team.
The father of one of the two students who were slapped by Saiful said he had forgiven the coach and hoped that no disciplinary action would be taken against him.
The incident was also picked up by Mehran Rowshan, a former youth football coach for Arsenal F.C. and also a multi F.A Charter Standard football coach who condemned the slapping.
Despite the fact that the two players were not hurt in this particular incident, Yeoh and Fadhlina both stated that they could not support violence and that problems like these should not be ignored.
New coaching for coaches
They declared that their ministries would not put up with such occurrences, particularly in light of their efforts to protect athletes’ health and safety, particularly those of the younger generation, which could impede the growth of the nation’s potential future stars.
Saiful, Yeoh said, had yet to apply for the coaching licence provided by the National Coaching Licensing Scheme (SLKK) and the National Coaching Certification Scheme (SPKK), as agreed by the National Coaching Academy (AKK), National Sports Institute (ISN), and other national sports associations.
According to her, the ministry directed AKK and ISN to strengthen the regulation requiring all coaches to renew their SPKK certification every two years in order to ensure that all national coaches were monitored throughout their coaching careers.
Yeoh urged coaches to attend AKK courses to learn new methods and techniques for being more efficient and effective, as well as to adhere to professional standards accepted by all.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Fadhlina stated that her ministry had completed its investigation and was studying the findings, particularly those dealing with ethics and the image of the teaching profession.
She said as civil servants, teachers were subject to Rule 4(2)d of the Civil Servants (Conduct and Discipline) 1993 Regulation.
Fadhlina said in line with Rule 4(2)d of the Civil Servants (Conduct and Discipline) 1993 Regulation, the state education department could take action against any person who had acted in a manner that was inappropriate, went against regulations or had raised public concern on the safety of students by teachers.
“There is room for Saiful to appeal and we leave it to the department to look into this holistically, including Saiful’s representation in the appeal process.
“The department will determine the most appropriate action,” she said.
RELATED:
