KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has urged the public not to racialise the exclusion of the traditional Indian martial art, silambam, from the upcoming 2026 Malaysia Games (Sukma), stating that the decision rests entirely with the host state.
Hannah’s response came after it was reported that PKR Youth arts and culture exco Gopiraj Nair criticised silambam’s exclusion from the games, saying it dismisses the importance of Malaysian legacy sports.
In a statement today, he rejected the idea that Indians have adequate representation in other sports such as kabaddi and karate, saying silambam is an Indian martial art with a strong Malaysian grassroots development structure.
“The Sukma committee has convened, and Selangor, as the host state, has made its own decision to select the sports it considers important.
“This is not unique to Selangor. In every Sukma edition, the host state is free to choose the sports they wish to include,” she told reporters at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new headquarters—known as the Olympic House—of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) in Bukit Jalil today.
Hannah said this practice has been consistent with previous Sukma editions and urged critics not to inject racial sentiments into decisions made within the sporting arena.
“Let’s not racialise the issue when we talk about sports,” she said.
Hannah acknowledged the disappointment over silambam’s exclusion but noted that several other sports had also not been selected.
“What we can do at the National Sports Council (NSC) is to consider organising non-Sukma competitions. As you know, it’s not only silambam that was left out—Muay Thai was also not selected. But no racial issue has been raised over that,” she said.
On Tuesday, Hannah announced that the 2026 Sukma in Selangor would include e-sports, chess, cricket and kabaddi.
She said the four sports were approved at the Sukma Supreme Council meeting, which she chaired, during which boxing and softball were also confirmed as mandatory Sukma sports effective from 2026.
“This brings the number of mandatory sports to 30. With the four additional sports approved for Sukma 2026, a total of 34 sports will be contested,” she said, adding that the decision was final and no further appeals would be entertained.
Hannah added that the government is reviewing Sukma’s format to ensure better consistency and continuity in athlete development going forward.
“We currently have 103 types of sports. We want to explore a different Sukma model. After Selangor, Kelantan will be the next host. Once Kelantan has hosted the games, the full cycle of state hosts will be completed.
“After that, the committee is considering appointing Putrajaya or the NSC as the permanent host so that the games are no longer state-led.
“This will help ensure consistency in the selection of sports and provide space to review and strengthen the athlete development pathway,” she said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Silambam Association (MSA) president Dr M. Suraess told Scoop he was left in the dark about the Selangor state government’s decision, particularly after his committee was involved in several SUKMA meetings.
“This is really disheartening, as we were part of all the meetings related to silambam’s inclusion in the games. We even discussed the proposed venue for our matches.
“If the Selangor state government truly did not intend to include us, what was the point of holding repeated meetings with us?
“We have spent the past year developing our athletes, and now they have no tournament in which to compete.
“We have submitted an appeal and hope it will be reconsidered by all parties involved. I also urge the state government to make a rational decision without being swayed by baseless accusations made by outsiders and individuals from the previous MSA administration,” said Suraess when met. – August 8, 2025