In the light of the current incidents regarding the banning of Dota 1 in a village in Dasmarinas, Cavite, the Malaysian electronic sports community has reached another landmark as the Malaysian Sports Commission recognized eSports Malaysia as the main governing body of eSports in the country.

The new organization, called “Esports Malaysia”, will be revealed to the mainstream media on Jan. 28, 2015 at the Dewan Perdana Felda Convention Center in Kuala Lumpur. People from all walks of life have been invited to the event, and they “will signal the beginning of e-Sports in Malaysia as a truly national sport and a recognition of eSports fans and enthusiasts in the country.”

To put things into context, the Malaysian government has supported eSports in many instances, both at the state and national level. These efforts include helping Arrow Gaming get their visas for TI4 as well as organizing LAN tournaments such as the Selangor Cyber Games.

This can be considered a huge step forward, considering that only a few eSports organizations in the world are attached to their respective governments: For instance, China’s General Administration of Sport is responsible for all sports, including competitive video games in China while the Korean Electronic Sports Association (KeSPA) is actually under Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The fact that the Malaysian government has allowed the creation of a governing body shows that the government is really determined to legitimize the status of electronic sports in Malaysia. At the least, it carries the implication that eSports has the same status as mainstream sporting disciplines such as football and basketball.

Source: Esports Malaysia Facebook page

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