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Changing the world: sport, racism and law in South Africa and Malaysia

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Abstract

An important function of a nation’s sport is to provide means of health and social cohesion. The objective is to be inclusive (internal function). This worthy objective causes tension, however, when juxtaposed with international sports competition (external function), because competitive sport at all levels is inherently elitist. In Malaysia, the development of the law indicates that sport was not acknowledged to serve any significant internal or external function. National policy to redress social inequities had a largely consequential effect on sport. Sport was deemed to be little more than another social institution subject to affirmative action policies. As a result, sport was a weak driver for social change. Sport in South Africa has had a significant internal and external impact on the development of the nation. It has a vital function in social cohesion and played significant part to play in the development of political policy and law. Internally the dismantling of apartheid in sport was a catalyst for the dismantling of apartheid generally. This article maps the development and interaction among sport, racism and law within these two countries. It reveals how international sports status is a product of law and a complex interrelationship between history and politics.

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Notes

  1. Speech by Nelson Mandela at the Inaugural Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award, Monaco 2000.

  2. Generally, the Act severely restricted the movement of African workers from one area to another. See also other examples such as the Dutch Reformed Church Act 1911 which prohibited Africans from becoming full members of the church and The Mine and Works Act (No. 12) 1911 which restricted Chinese communities from applying for mining jobs in skilled areas monopolised by whites.

  3. See Native Affairs Act 1920 and subsequent Native (Urban Areas) Act 1923 which empowered to declare African worker, ‘idle, dissolute or “disorderly” and have them departed to the Reserves’.

  4. There is no specific provision which includes sport under the 1948 Agreement.

  5. See Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948, Clause 19(1)(d) where ‘The High Commissioner will safeguard the special position of the Malays and the legitimate interests of other races in Malaya’.

  6. The definition of ‘Public Sectors’ excludes the police force and army.

  7. Article 8(A) of the Malaysian Federal Constitution.

  8. For instance, the Springbok tour to Britain in 1969 and Australia in 1971 proved a disaster because of public demonstrations. In 1970, Britain cancelled the proposed cricket tour when Afro-Asian countries threatened to boycott the Commonwealth Games. In 1974, a proposed Springbok tour of New Zealand had to be aborted because of public opposition and threat by India and African countries to boycott the Commonwealth Games.

  9. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 was approved by the Constitutional Court on the 4th of December 1996 and took effect on the 4th of February 1997 replacing both the 1983 (Tricameral) Constitution and 1993 Interim Constitution.

  10. See Article 153(1) Malaysian Federal Constitution.

  11. [1977] 2 Malayan Law Journal, 155, 165.

  12. New rules would require two-thirds’ parliamentary majority, before they could be adopted or amended or repeal.

  13. Under Section 3(1)(e) and (f), sedition occurs when a person ‘promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia’ or ‘To raise question, directly and indirectly of any real or potential matter, right, status, position, privilege, sovereignty or prerogative established and protected by the provisions of the Federal Constitution.’

    Section 4 of the Sedition Act specifies that anyone who ‘does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do’ an act with seditious tendency, such as uttering seditious words, or printing, publishing or importing seditious literature, is guilty of sedition. It is also a crime to possess a seditious publication without a ‘lawful excuse’. The act defines sedition itself as anything which ‘when applied or used in respect of any act, speech, words, publication or other thing qualifies the act, speech, words, publication or other thing as having a seditious tendency’.

  14. The Malay share of the economy, though substantially larger, was not near the 30 % target according to government figures. In its review of the NEP, the government found that although income equality had been reduced, some important targets related to overall Malay corporate ownership had not been met.

  15. The main purpose of the Malaysian Plan is to assess, project the economic growth in Malaysia for the next 5 years. Although not a precedent per se, the Plan’s implementation is flexible and could be subjected to change to meet the current need.

  16. [1997] (4) SA 1 (CC) 1997 (6), BCLR 708 (CC).

  17. Section 13(1) of the Employment Equity Act 1998 provides that ‘Every employer must, in order to achieve employment equity, implement Affirmative Action measures for people from designated groups in terms of this Act’. Sub-section 2 of the Act provides that ‘A designated employer must consult with its employers as required by Section 16’; ‘Conduct an analysis as required by Section 19; ‘Prepare an employment equity plan as required by Section 20’ and ‘Report to the Director General on progress made in implementing its employment equity plan’. See further in South African Government Information (n30).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences (ALSS), Anglia Law School, Anglia Ruskin University, Bishop Hall Lane, CM1 1SQ, Chelmsford, Essex, UK

    John O’Leary

  2. Lord Ashcroft International Business School (LAIBS), Anglia Ruskin University, Bishop Hall Lane, CM1 1SQ, Chelmsford, Essex, UK

    Teng Guan Khoo

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  1. John O’Leary
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  2. Teng Guan Khoo
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Correspondence to John O’Leary.

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O’Leary, J., Khoo, T.G. Changing the world: sport, racism and law in South Africa and Malaysia. Int Sports Law J 13, 45–54 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40318-013-0014-4

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