KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Khairy Jamaluddin issued a public apology today and announced that the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) will proceed on October 4 as originally planned, following widespread uproar over an earlier decision to move the event.

Khairy issued the apology on behalf of his Youth and Sports Ministry, Standard Chartered, event organiser Dirigo Events and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) for the decision to postpone the date although he stressed that the move had not been politically-motivated.

“I have personally been reading a lot of your comments about the marathon and have held many discussions with the organisers and other stakeholders,” Khairy said in a statement.

“We have jointly come to the conclusion that the Standard Chartered KL Marathon will be reverted back to October 4, considering the many issues that have been raised. On behalf of the ministry, Standard Chartered, Dirigo and DBKL, I apologise for the inconvenience caused by the earlier change in date and I hope that you all will still come forward to support the National Sports Day,” he added.

A petition titled “Bring SCKLM Back To October 4: Stop Politicising Sporting Events” protesting the change of the date of the run garnered 15,555 signatures yesterday, with some foreign runners saying that they have already booked flight tickets and accommodation in Kuala Lumpur.

Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming, who is also a runner, told Khairy in an open letter today that the date of SCKLM did not need to be shifted to achieve his National Sports Day objectives, pleading for the annual marathon to be brought back to October 4.

Khairy insisted that the National Sports Day wasn’t about achieving KPIs or hijacking events, but about trying to get various Malaysians to get involved in as many sporting activities as possible on one day.

“The National Sports Day is not a political event with a political agenda, like how Teachers Day or Cancer Awareness Month are not,” he said.

“It was to be our step towards becoming a sporting nation and to make sports and fitness part of a Malaysian culture, identity and lifestyle. We are a sports-loving nation but we are nowhere near being a sporting nation,” he added.

Khairy said that objective was the reason why the SCKLM date was earlier changed in a joint decision between the ministry, Standard Chartered, Dirigo Events and DBKL.

“It was not to ‘hijack’ their event to artificially boost participation for the inaugural National Sports Day or to achieve my KPI. We were looking for several iconic events all around Malaysia and we realised that there is a hunger for running events, evident from the spots that have been quickly sold out in these events,” he said.

The SCKLM is a popular tourism draw for Malaysia, attracting thousands of participants and sporting enthusiast alike into the capital every year.