Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has explained the decision to only sell tickets for the SEA Games football final between Malaysia and Thailand at two stadiums, instead of doing it online.

“We intended for some (tickets) to be sold online. That was the practice for all games before the final.

“However, last night I was told that the online payment gateway provider could not guarantee a stable process because of volume,” Khairy said in a series of postings on Twitter last night.

He explained that the provider, who could not guarantee stability, was concerned that people who had transacted payments online could not get tickets due to the sheer volume of demand.

“I had a decision to make with that information given to me. Without a stable online payment gateway, a decision was made to sell all (tickets) at Stadium Shah Alam.

“So regarding online sales, it was my judgment call with all available information I had,” he said.

All tickets to the football final match were sold at Stadium Shah Alam and Malawati Stadium, also in Shah Alam, yesterday.

The organisers have been criticised for not selling the tickets online.

Thousands had camped in Shah Alam since 10pm on Sunday night for a chance to get tickets for tonight’s showdown. Ticket counters opened at 11am yesterday morning, but the counters experienced long periods of suspension throughout the day.

This caused frustration among those waiting in line, some of whom had come from as far as Kelantan to purchase the tickets.

Khairy further explained on Twitter that the tickets were sold at the stadiums until operations had to be suspended when barricades were breached.

“Then we resumed (selling tickets) after the FRU (Federal Reserve Unit) arrived,” he said.

Despite that, Khairy said, the most important thing was for Malaysians to rally behind the national athletes, especially the football team.

“We will get past 111 (medals). Now it is a question of how many golds we end up with and if we get the icing on the cake (with regard to) football,” he said.

Malaysia achieved its target of 111 gold medals, with world champion cyclist Mohd Azizulhasni Awang claiming the 111th gold medal in the Men’s Individual Sprint final in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, last night.