By Phlip Rodrigues
The ‘football match’ between International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is more interesting than English Premier League matches!
It has all the ingredients of intrigue, deception and even the making of a scandal.
When they took to the field, both sides played a clean game, but it was the FAM that was given a red card for violating a Fifa rule.
The FAM vehemently protested the referee’s decision but a check with ‘VAR’ (the video-assisted referee) confirmed that the FAM had committed a ‘foul’, though this is still being contested.
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Without hesitation, Fifa sanctioned the Malaysian football body for this serious breach of the rule, and imposed a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8m).
What is this ‘penalty’ all about? Well, while both sides were trying to find the back of the net, the ‘referee’ suddenly blew the whistle on the FAM and sent seven of its foreign football players off the field.
Malaysian fans roared their disapproval, but the ‘referee’ stuck to his decision. Based on the ‘VAR assessment’, these so-called players were allegedly granted Malaysian citizenship without following proper procedure.
But the FAM claimed all seven are “heritage players”, meaning their grandparents were born in Malaysia and therefore these players were eligible to become Malaysian citizens.
According to the FAM, it had checked their backgrounds thoroughly and had verified all the documents submitted by the players.
The football body claimed it had followed all the proper procedures for granting citizenship, and hence, the players took to the field for Malaysia against Vietnam in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on 10 June.
It took some time for football’s world governing authority to cry foul, giving rise to suspicion that some ‘external party’ might have influenced Fifa into taking such drastic action.
But let’s blow the whistle on the FAM. The association contends it had “prepared and verified” all the documents according to “established procedures”.
The strange part of the narrative is that the FAM also claimed that some information about this case comes under the Official Secrets Act 1972 and, therefore, it cannot divulge the procedures involved in the verification of passports.
Does this mean there are two tracks to Malaysian citizenship – one the fast track and the other the normal course, which will take endless years?
Are there two standards – one for foreign footballers and the other for the thousands of stateless people born and bred here?
It is understandable that the FAM is afraid to disclose how the government goes about issuing Malaysian passports. It must surely be based on a person’s citizenship status.
But what is the actual process involved in granting citizenship? That is top secret. It appears that the process of granting citizenship to the seven foreign players is not transparent.
The crux of the issue boils down to determining the real birthplaces of their grandparents. According to Fifa, a check on the ancestral records of the players revealed that their grandparents actually came from Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands.
If so, how were the original documents changed to show their grandparents were born in Malaysia in places like Malacca, Penang, Johor and Sarawak?
Fifa came to one conclusion: the documents submitted by the FAM about the citizenship status of the foreign nationals were fake. In short, FAM is accused of falsifying the documents just to get the players to don the Harimau Malaya (Malaysian) jerseys in time for the crucial match against Vietnam.
Malaysia won the match 4–0 but the victory is now marred by this disturbing case which has all the hallmarks of an emerging scandal.
The FAM appears to be in a pickle: how can it extricate itself from this embarrassing situation? It did come up with an explanation – or rather a lame excuse – conveniently blaming it all on a “technical error”.
But Fifa is unlikely to change its mind because the governing body appears to have solid proof that the FAM has committed a ‘foul’. The ball is now in the FAM’s court to prove Fifa wrong.
In the meantime, stop giving out instant citizenship to foreign football players. Instead, grant this precious document to those born here but living in limbo because they are treated like foreigners.
If there is one lesson to be learnt from this debacle, it is this: nurture our home-grown talents.
Surely, with a population of 36 million, Malaysia can discover local players who can be moulded into football greats like Mokhtar Dahari (Supermokh), Soh Chin Aun, R Arumugam (Spiderman) and Santokh Singh.
When we have an all-Malaysian team, we can cheer our hearts out for the footballers because they truly represent Malaysia, rather than for some foreigners who kick their way into the field after becoming instant Malaysian citizens.
Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
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