A Red Card For Fam

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THE “football match” between International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is more interesting than the 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 FAM that was given the red card for violating a FIFA rule.
FAM vehemently protested the decision of the referee but a check with VAR (Video Assisted Referee) confirmed that FAM had committed a foul, though it is still being contested.
Without hesitation, FIFA sanctioned the Malaysian football body for this serious breach of rule, and imposed a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 mil).
What is this ruckus all about? Well, while both sides were trying to find the back of the net, the referee suddenly blew the whistle on 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 VAR assessment, these so-called players were allegedly granted Malaysian citizenship without following proper procedure.
(Image: Facebook/Harimau Malaya)But FAM claimed all the seven are “heritage players”, meaning that their grandparents were born in Malaysia and therefore they are eligible to become Malaysian citizens.
According to FAM, it had checked their background thoroughly and had verified all the documents submitted by the players.
The football body claimed it had followed all the proper procedures for the granting of the citizenship, and hence, the players took to the field for Malaysia against Vietnam in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10.
It took sometime for the world football governing authority to cry foul, giving rise to suspicion that some “external party” might have influenced FIFA into taking such a drastic action.

But let’s blow the whistle on FAM. The association contends that it had “prepared and verified” all the documents according to “established procedures”.
The strange part of the narrative is that 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 FAM is afraid to disclose how the government goes about issuing Malaysian passports. It must surely be based on your 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 whole issue boils down to determining the real birth places 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.
Then how in God’s or Pele’s name 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 FAM about the citizenship status of the foreign nationals were fake.

(Image: FAMalaysiaOfficial)In short, FAM is accused of falsifying the documents just so to get the players to don the Malaysian jerseys in time for the crucial match against Vietnam.

Malaysia won the match (4-0) but the victory was marred by this case which has all the hallmarks of an emerging scandal.
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, 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 FAM has committed a foul. The ball is now in FAM court to prove FIFA wrong
In the meantime, stop giving out instant citizenship to foreign football players. Instead, grant this precious document o 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 homegrown talents.
Surely, with a population of 36 million, Malaysia can discover local players who can be moulded into football greats in the likes of Mokhtar Dahari (Supermokh), Soh Chin Aun, R. Arumugam (the Spiderman), and Santokh Singh. 
Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT. 
- Focus Malaysia.

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