DIVING ace Pandelela Rinong today revealed she was bullied after calling out a coach for making obscene jokes, who eventually ended up being entangled in a rape case.

“I had a coach before who loved making lewd jokes. I kept quiet and didn’t even give out a fake laugh because I was scared of him.

“Once I couldn’t take it any longer and called him out but I was instead bullied. Seven years later, he was involved in a rape case. #rapejokeisnotfunny,” she said in a thread of tweets.

Pandelela added that the coach continued being problematic throughout the seven years he was there, which left many of the athletes helpless as he was backed by the head coach.

“Moral of the story, we need a good leader who can right what’s wrong instead of turning a blind eye to evil, and those abused must speak up please! Small voices still matter if we are united.

“We are very lucky that we are being protected safely by our sport association, who cares for us. Happy ending,” she said.

The Olympic silver medalist’s tweet comes in the wake of an inappropriate comment by actor Fauzi Nawawi on Raja Farah Aziz in a recent interview. Fauzi had commented on a rape scene featuring the duo in the movie Anak Halal.

Fauzi has since openly apologised to Raja Farah and her husband for his remarks.

The issue drew criticism from many people who condemned Fauzi for his comment and stood by Raja Farah. The duo are trending on Twitter at press time.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who held the sports and youth portfolio in the Barisan Nasional government, thanked Pandelela for her brave words.

“Thanks for speaking out, Lela. There are still sports journalists who criticise the decision that we made to shake up Malaysian diving in light of these allegations a few years ago. I would make the same decision every single time,” Khairy said in response to her tweet.

In her tweets this morning, Pandelela did not reveal any names but in 2017, a coach in the national diving team from China, Huang Qiang was charged in the Sessions Court with raping a national diver at the National Aquatics Centre in Bukit Jalil.

However, Huang was acquitted in the Court of Appeal after the prosecution withdrew its appeal.

This led to changes in the national diving team. – October 21, 2021.