Embarrassing Fam Scandal Reflect Deep Rooted Accountability Crisis In Malaysia S Major Institutions

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ON Sept 25 the International Federation of Association Football’s (FIFA) Disciplinary Committee announced that they had sanctioned the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven players for breaches of Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which concerns forgery and falsification.
FIFA claimed that FAM had doctored citizenship documentation to field these players in matches for the Malaysian national football team: attempting to pass them off as “heritage” players, with ancestral ties to Malaysia through their grandparents.
As part of the sanctions, FIFA imposed a RM1.9 mil fine on FAM as well as a RM11,000 fine and 12-month suspension for each player.
In the ensuing weeks, this saga has brought Malaysia into disrepute, with outrage exhibited at both national and international levels. Yet, despite this outrage reaching a fever pitch, the body has done little to make amends.
Rather than take accountability for national humiliation and costing millions in taxpayer money, authorities have consistently shirked responsibility in the face of intense public scrutiny.
The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) demands that all parties involved take immediate accountability for this scandal, and stresses that the continued failure to do so reflects a worsening accountability crisis in Malaysia.
(Image: FAMalaysia Official)To better understand the issue, a chronology of events is presented as follows:
Sept 25 – FIFA sanctions FAM and the seven players accused of doctoring citizenship documents.
Sept 28 – FAM Secretary General Noor Azman Rahman denies wrongdoing, claiming an FAM administrative staff had committed a “technical error”.
Oct 6 – FIFA publishes its grounds, claiming that FAM’s submissions had contradicted the original birth documents of the players’ grandparents.
Oct 7 – FAM labels FIFA’s claims “baseless”, claiming that a staff member had mistakenly uploaded documents provided by an agent instead of official documents from the National Registration Department.
Oct 9 – Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail claimed that he used discretionary powers granted under Article 20(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution to award the seven players citizenship.
Oct 18 – FAM holds its first press conference since the scandal, suspending Noor Azman Rahman pending investigation by an “independent committee”.
This sequence of events raises more questions than provide answers, such as:
Who was the agent involved in submitting documents to FAM?What documents did this agent provide that were deemed fraudulent by FIFA?If FIFA’s findings are true, is Saifuddin culpable in approving fraudulent citizenships?Why was Noor Azman alone made liable for the scandal?Will Noor Azman’s removal ensure impropriety such as this will not occur again?What guarantees are there that the investigation committee will truly be “independent” as claimed?Why has FAM failed to publicly name the committee members?Malaysia’s persistent accountability failures
The handling of this scandal—including the inadequate response to public outcry and disregard for transparency—underscores a disturbing lack of accountability at the highest levels of the body.
In sum, FAM’s response to the scandal can be boiled down to: blaming a “technical error” on a single administrative staff, suspending their secretary-general, and establishing a yet-to-be-named “independent committee” to investigate the matter nearly a month after the scandal first broke.
FAM has been disturbingly opaque in its statements responding to the issue. Until now, the public remains unsure if FAM even possesses proper documentation proving the Malaysian heritage of the seven players, opting to hide behind secrecy laws such as the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Passport Act 1966.
Rob Friend (Image: Malay Mail)On top of all this, national football team chief executive officer Rob Friend’s statements indicate a highly involved external party, leaving accountability even further out of reach.
At each juncture, FAM has refused to take ownership of the biggest scandal in Malaysian football history. Instead, FAM has focused more on defending themselves than putting in place the necessary measures to remedy this disaster.
The question then is simple—will FAM do anything to remedy this situation both in the short-term and long-term?
Frustratingly, what this scandal ultimately reveals is not just an isolated failure by FAM, but a deeply ingrained problem present within Malaysian institutions. For too long, Malaysians have laid witness to scandals that ensue in the highest public offices with little to no accountability.
In the past year alone, Malaysia has been rocked by the Sabah corruption scandal, which saw over a dozen elected representatives implicated in corrupt dealings.
Despite there being publicly available footage demonstrating the accepting of bribes, not a single individual has done so much as resign over these disgraceful findings.
It must be stressed that “accountability” is more than just a tool to punish. Rather, accountability acts as a fundamental principle of good governance, ensuring that individuals entrusted with positions of power and authority are answerable for their actions, particularly when these actions create harm.
Above all else, accountability ensures that those in power are able to act responsibly, compelling them to take corrective action in instances where malfeasance has been perpetrated. Only through this can actual change be affected in our systems of governance. ‒  Focus Malaysia

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