Malaysia news outlet Sinar Harian partially censored a photo of the country's Olympic diver, Cheong Jun Hoong, in a news report on July 19, 2021.

The photo showed the gluteus maximus of the diver pixelated while the rest of her body was visible.

Uproar

The censorship move caused an uproar among Malaysian online commenters, with some claiming it to be unnecessary.

The report, "Remain focus despite challenges", covered the Olympian's journey in making the nation proud.

However, online commenters were not inspired or too keen on the media's decision to pixelate the photo as they deemed it to be disrespectful.

Other commenters suggested the media to just use the national team's attire instead, or to focus on the athlete's face if her competition attire was of any concern.

One comment read: "You just put a photo of her face, cannot?"

The original article the media outlet cited did not censor any of the diver's photograph.

The original article was by Bernama, a Malaysia wire service.

Sinar Harian

Sinar Harian was in 2014 considered by a research paper to be one of the more balanced publications when covering Malaysian elections.

Not the first time women athletes' attire drew flak

This was not the first time that a woman athlete was censored due to her attire.

In 2015, Malaysian gymnast, Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, was criticised by certain segments of the community for her "revealing attire", The Star reported.

The country's conservative elements pointed out that she was showing her “aurat” and the “shape of her private parts” in a leotard despite winning a gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games.

Farah's response to her critics: "Empty cans make the most noise".

Empty cans make the most noise

— Farah Ann OLY (@farahannhadi) June 12, 2015

Top image via Sinar Harian Online