Moving forward with Malaysia Baru
PETALING Malaysia should build on its success at the Rio Paralympic Games to change people’s mindset about the disabled, said Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) vice-president Jason Lo.
Among the Malaysian Paralympic contingent who heard and proudly sang the Negaraku for the first time at an Olympic Stadium, Lo said the catalyst to change was coming from the young, including the Paralympic athletes.
“Our society is judged based on how we treat those who are most in need, and I think we are heading towards ‘Malaysia Baru’ because, right now, Malaysians have started to believe in these extraordinary athletes,” said Lo in a statement.
Malaysia Baru, he said, starts when everyone is treated with respect and love.
“The Old Malaysia has taught us great lessons and, now, we need to think about moving forward, with a united front,” he said.
Lo, who is also Tune Talk CEO and the co-creator of the Malaysian Invasion Spirit in Motion (Misim), said all 21 Malaysian para athletes had made the country proud because to compete at that level was an amazing achievement on its own.
The Misim movement, he said, was introduced to bring more exposure to para athletes who were winning world championships all across the globe even before Rio.
During the build-up to the Paralympics, he said, these athletes were introduced as extraordinary individuals who had managed to overcome the challenges in their lives and were ready to take on the world.
This was proven true when Mohd Ridzuan Mohd Puzi edged ahead of his competitors to win Malaysia’s first ever gold medal.
“The great journey was made greater when Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli and Abdul Latif Romly added two more gold medals with two new world records. A bronze medal by Siti Noor Radiah Ismail was perfect to our campaign there,” he added.
Lo also noted that #KamiLuarBiasa is now synonymous with these para athletes.
“I do not want the word disable in our vocabulary, I want us to change, to use luar biasa or extraordinary instead,” he said.
Lo hoped the athletes would look beyond Rio, including the Asean Para Games in Kuala Lumpur and World ParaAthletics Championships in 2017, before the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
“I think there is more greatness to come if we believe and Misim has and will make a lot more people realise what greatness we can achieve if we work together,” he said.