National shuttler Lee Chong Wei should be given the best legal defence to ensure he gets a fair hearing before the Badminton World Federation (BWF) doping hearing panel, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Umno Youth chief said he personally believes that Lee had not deliberately taken any banned substance.

"I believe that we have to give our athlete the best possible defence in this case. We are trying to ensure that he has a fair hearing before the doping panel.

"I believe that Chong Wei is an athlete who has been fully committed to representing the country. I do not personally feel that he deliberately took any banned substance," he said today.

Khairy ( left ) was speaking at a press conference at which he was asked whether he believes that Lee is innocent.

The BWF has provisionally suspended Lee pending the hearing after he tested positive for the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone steroid.

The drug is generally used to alleviate pain and has no performance-enhancing properties, but is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for in-competition doping tests.

The hearing is slated for early-December, and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has hired sports lawyer Mike Morgan to defend Lee. He faces the prospect of a suspension of up to two years.

To a question why Lee is treated better than other athletes who had been tested positive for banned substances, such as wushu athlete Tai Cheau Xuan, Khairy said that question should be directed to the Malaysian Wushu Federation instead.

“They (BAM) are the ones giving the treatment to the badminton athletes. So if you want to question, ask it to the Wushu Federation - why don’t you do the same to your athletes... You have to ask the relevant sports associations,” he said.

Tai had won a gold medal at the women’s nanquan and nandao event at the Asian Games this year, but was stripped of her medal after she tested positive for the weight-loss substance sibutramine and lost a court appeal.

Following these cases, Khairy said the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas) has been instructed to step up its pre-competition screenings tests, up from the current sampling rate of nearly 30 percent of athletes.

“We are in the process of strengthening Adamas’ institutions in terms of its administration. We are not sure if we want to base it in Bukit Jalil or elsewhere, but is in our plans to see Adamas play a bigger role,” he said.