Pawi Omar, the father to national Moto3 racer Khairul Idham, has denied that he was disappointed with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin about the lack of government funding for his son during his career in motor sports.

Instead, Khairul’s dad said that he was very proud and thankful with the honours accorded to his son and the readiness of the minister to meet and assist the racer.

“I want to refer to the Malaysiakini article which has become viral in the media.

"The statement said that as father to racer Khairul Idham, I was disappointed that the PM and youth and sports minister only heaped praises (on my son).

“I want to stress that the statement is totally false and I instead am proud and thankful at the honours accorded to my son and want to thank YB Khairy for his willingness to meet and help my son,” he said in a two-paragraph handwritten and unsigned media statement ( below ) sent to Malaysiakini by Khairy's press secretary.

Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported that Pawi expressed his disappointment that the government never gave any aid to his son during the course of his racing career.

Indeed according to Pawi, even when Khairul won the MotoGP World Championship in Argentina last weekend, only praises were heaped on his son and nothing else.

Moments afterwards, national news agency Bernama reported that the Perak government will be disbursing RM100,000 as incentive to Khairul for his win.

Khairul's win in the Moto3 category created Malaysian history after he finished first in the 21-lap race at the Termas de Rio Hondo track in Argentina.

Malaysiakini stands by its earlier reporting on the matter.