No one should defend any racial slur, intentionally or otherwise, as racism will have bad consequences on a plural society like Malaysia.

Yet, does national women’s hockey player Hanis Nadiah Onn deserve an indefinite suspension even after extending a sincere apology for her offending remark on social media?

The remark related to the crowd of mostly Indians attending a concert by singer and composer AR Rahman at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last month. It was condemned by most Malaysians, including Malays and Chinese.

I have a question here. Is it worse than the ultra-racialist remarks which our politicians have regularly spewed over several decades, for which they have been getting away scot-free?

Of course not!

There are claims that the youth and sports ministry has gone overboard by meting out an indefinite suspension. I agree. For me a severe warning or a one-tournament suspension would have sufficed.

Agreed, Hanis should not have posted the comment on social media in the first place, but the young woman repented and promised not to repeat the mistake.

This was actually a simple case of a distasteful joke, regularly made in private over the years, coming out in the public domain.

It was offensive, but the truth is that Malaysians have said things much worse on social media. Speaking for myself, what Hanis said on this occasion did not devastate me personally.

Instead, to me, it suggested that it was the result of the racial conditioning which Hanis and other youngsters of her generation have been subjected to in the highly-charged modern day environment of Malaysian politics and daily life.

Our youth have not been taught to respect each other’s racial and religious sensitivities.

Politicians should see this as a wakeup call that racialism in politics and in the public life, if left unchecked, will destroy national unity.

This is the underlying problem that we need to address.

The quick and decisive action by the youth and sports ministry, the National Sports Council and the Malaysia Hockey Federation is laudable, but there do appear to be mitigating circumstances in Hanis’ favour.

To her credit, she showed remorse almost immediately – even before action was taken against her – and has expressed her regret several times since, so perhaps, an indefinite suspension may be too harsh.

By all means, bar Hanis from the upcoming Sea Games in Cambodia and issue her with a strong warning.

That would be a sufficient deterrent to her and to the entire sports community.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.