Football Citizenship Scandal Puts Malaysia S Political Past Back In Play

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A STORM over how several foreign footballers obtained Malaysian citizenship has taken an unexpected political turn — one that touches on old wounds in the country’s east.
FIFA has questioned the legitimacy of naturalised Malaysian players after discovering that documents submitted for their eligibility were allegedly falsified. The revelation has embarrassed Kuala Lumpur, as questions swirl over how seven foreign-born players — from Brazil, the Netherlands, Spain, and Argentina — secured their Malaysian status.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Parliament that 23 foreign footballers have received citizenship since 2018, adding that 6,000 of 49,000 total applications remain pending. Yet the issue has become more than a sporting scandal.
In Sabah — a state with a long and painful history over citizenship and identity — the controversy has reignited political sensitivities. The state, which dissolved its assembly this week ahead of polls, has long been wary of federal manoeuvres related to naturalisation.
According to Channel News Asia (CNA), the scandal evokes memories of Project IC, a covert naturalisation programme from the 1990s that allegedly shifted Sabah’s demographics by granting citizenship to large numbers of migrants from neighbouring countries.
Though Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now Prime Minister, was then a senior figure in government, he has never been officially implicated.
Still, the parallels are politically uncomfortable.
“The scars from Project IC are still fresh,” one Sabah politician told CNA, warning that citizenship could again become an electoral flashpoint.
As Malaysia confronts the fallout from FIFA’s findings, the line between sport and politics appears once again to blur — reopening an old debate about who gets to be Malaysian, and why. —  Focus Malaysia

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