Several months ago we reported that the sport of paintball was coming under fire in south pacific nation of Malaysia. This week, we have heard from our friends in the region that the first major tournament has been canceled due to sanctions placed upon paintball markers. Below is the report, which contains a recap of the state of the game in the region…

The Malaysian National Paintball League (MY-NPL) is one of the largest local tournament series in Malaysia, the 2nd event of its 2014 series to be held on the 5th-6th of April at the famous Dataran Pahlawan Melaka in the state of Malacca was a weekend to look forward to.

An estimated number of 450 participants traveling from all over Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore make their way to the event. Past nations that have participated in the famed tournament series included Australia, Thailand and Japan.

However on the morning of the tournament itself, The Royal Malaysia Police pulled the plugs on the event leaving everyone at the event baffled.

An official statement has been released by the Secretary of the Malaysian Paintball Federation (MPF), Mr. Muhammad Muhsin bin Mohammed; whom is also a part of the secretariat of the MY-NPL to shed light on what happened.

THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT
(Bill : 01/14)

“Earlier today, there was a raid for unlicensed imitation arms conducted by the Malaysian Police (PDRM) on the second leg of the MY-NPL in Dataran Pahlawan, Melaka.

Despite the fact that the MY-NPL is a licensed event, PDRM decided to go ahead with the raid, as the tournament was allowed to proceed, but only with licensed house markers. The raid was specifically to locate unlicensed imitation arms that may have allegedly been brought to the event.

The MPF has now established direct communications with Bukit Aman, which is PDRM’s headquarters, and has rallied the support of the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia and the Ministry of Home Affairs Malaysia.

This incident can be considered the impetus by all parties to move and formalize paintball as “imitation arms” and set out licensing, transfers and destruction procedures.

We urge all players to remain calm while negotiations are being conducted, and to be very prudent in their social media posts.

We will continue to update as soon as we receive further information.”

MUHAMMAD MUHSIN BIN MOHAMMED
Secretary of Malaysian Paintball Federation
Secretariat of MY-NPL

A quick summary of what happened with the paintball scene in Malaysia was on 25th November 2013, 8 days after the 2013 Paintball World Cup Asia held on Langkawi Island; paintball came to limelight nationwide for licensing issues and it caused uproar in the Malaysian paintball community.

After a few months of meetings with the sports commissioner and the Royal Malaysia Police; the verdict was simply “Let the Malaysian Paintball Federation handle this.”

An official election and voting has been conducted on the 22nd of March and the new federation are doing all they can for the future of the sport so fingers crossed and keep calm!

#PrayforMalaysianPaintball