THE Sultan of Johor has made an unusual challenge to Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin: come to Johor with the Malaysian team and play against us in a polo match.

In a posting on the Southern Tigers Facebook page this afternoon, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar slammed the polo teams competing at the games for “merely meeting the necessary conditions” and possessing a lower handicap, making it easy for matches to be won.

“I challenge the Sea Games polo team to come to Johor and show your fangs since news of your greatness precedes you,” Sultan Ibrahim said. 

“I’d like to extend the invitation to the youth and sports minister and hopefully he won’t disappoint the requests of the people to see your team defeat the Johor team.”

Khairy is a member of the Malaysian Sea Games polo team.

His comments followed the Malaysian team’s match against Singapore today, in which he singled out an unnamed player who “came on and asked the performing player to pretend to be injured” after the national team had taken the lead.

“So, there’s a photo of him in the team, to be featured in the print media and spread the propaganda as if he was victorious and reliable.”

The sultan said he would play in the Johor team in the proposed match, along with his two sons and two horse trainers, adding that if they lost, he would admit to the superiority of the nation’s Sea Games team. 

“Polo in Johor did not start yesterday. Polo was first played and introduced in Johor since 1884. When I was the crown prince, I was already playing around the world and even played in the World Cup.

“Hence, the Sea Games is almost insignificant in comparison. If you want a more competitive match, do come to Johor,” Sultan Ibrahim posted. 

The post has so far garnered almost 20,000 likes and 3,000 shares.

The sultan’s post comes a month after his son, the crown prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, also took to Facebook to hit out at “actors and hypocrites who are hailed as heroes”, taking a dig at politicians who wanted to be celebrities and sportsmen.

“Where a person who can’t ride a horse or play polo can be selected to represent the country. Where individuals who don’t even go for proper military training can become a general. A country where the institution is slowly losing its identity,” the crown prince posted on the Southern Tigers Facebook page.

The post came after Khairy was picked for the national polo team in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.  Khairy also became the first minister to be promoted to brigadier-general in the Askar Wataniah (Territorial Army) last year. The promotion was effective from January 2015.

Tunku Ismail said Malaysia had become a place where individuals wanted to be politicians for their personal interest and no longer believed in serving the people and the institutions.  – August 24, 2017.