Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the organisers for the World Squash Championships has admitted that the main reason for the event's postponement is a lack of funds, and not security reasons as they had initially cited.

"They (organisers) admitted in their answer to my ministry yesterday that security reasons is not the only reason. They are facing financial troubles.

"They admitted yesterday that a large part of the reason why they decided to postpone this is because of sponsorship," he said in a press conference after speaking at the Lean In Summit Malaysia 2015 in Kuala Lumpur today.

Khairy said that the organiser, Hallmark Events Group, had also told his ministry that they can still hold the championships next week if the Malaysian government provided them with sponsorship, including RM3.5 million for "private security arrangement".

"To me, when I'm told, 'Oh, we can still organise this next week if you give us a one-off grant of RM3.5 million for private security arrangements', this is absolutely preposterous.

"I do not appreciate being blackmailed by the organisers, using the issue of security and painting Malaysia in a bad light," he said.

The government could not comply with their request anyway, he said, due to their own budgetary reasons this year.

Besides, he added, it is not the responsibility of the government to fund the championship.

"This is the World's Squash Championships. They're the organisers, they're supposed to find the money," he said.

General travel advisory notice

The organisers have also clarified their security concerns and, Khairy said, they cited a general travel advisory notice issued by the US State Department.

He stressed that the travel advisory notice was a general one and was not directed at Malaysia.

Previously he had also refuted the organisers' security concerns, pointing out that Malaysia had just hosted the Asean summit attended by many world leaders without any untoward incidents.

The World Squash Championships was originally due to take place in Kuala Lumpur from Dec 11-18.