Responding to the huge public outcry, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has apologised for changing the date of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon.

With that, he has announced that the date has been reverted to the original date of Oct 4.

“I have personally been reading a lot of your comments about the marathon and have held many discussions with the organisers and other stakeholders.

“We have jointly come to the conclusion that the Standard Chartered KL Marathon will be reverted back to Oct 4, considering the many issues that have been raised,” Khairy ( photo ) said in a statement posted on his Facebook account today.

“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.

His ministry had previously announced the event to be postponed from Oct 4 to Oct 10 to coincide with the inaugural National Sports Day.

Some 35,000 participants had signed up for the event, which Khairy said would boost participation at the National Sports Day.

Flights and hotel rooms booked

However, the postponement had opened a floodgate of angry comments to Khairy’s and the event’s official Facebook pages.

Some participants remarked cynically that this is a ‘convenient’ way to ensure that the participation at the National Sports Day would hit its target, or key performance index (KPI), while others expressed anger that the date had been changed on a whim after they had booked their flights and hotel rooms to join the marathon.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming ( photo ), who regularly participates in long-distance running events, described Khairy's move as "totally irresponsible, inconsiderate and defeats the intended purpose of the National Sports Day".

Meanwhile, Khairy assured that there is no political agenda behind the postponement of the marathon, and there was no intention to ‘hijack’ it to artificially boost participation at the National Sports Day.

“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 explained.

Statement on the Standard Chartered KL Marathon.I’ve read all your tweets, Facebook messages and emails regarding the...

Posted by Khairy Jamaluddin on  Thursday, 16 July 2015