Instant Citizenship Lasting Shame Fam Govt Laid Bare

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“Here comes another one, worse than the other one, waltz me around again, Willie.”
The above opening lyric from the 1906 song “Waltz Me Around Again, Willie” by Will D Cobb and Ren Shields, which was popularised for its catchy tune and simple lyrics, is often used to connect different limericks.
They perfectly capture the feeling - just as you recover from one blow, a more devastating one hits.
If last month’s 19-page International Federation of Association Football’s (Fifa) Disciplinary Committee report was damning, yesterday’s 64-page Appeals Committee verdict was a total demolition. It indicted not only the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and its secretary-general, Noor Azman Rahman, but the Malaysian government and its officials.
ADSThe report put all involved in the dock: FAM, the seven foreign players who posed as Malaysians, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, National Registration Department (NRD) director-general Badrul Hisham Alias, and other officials linked to one of the country’s biggest sports scandals.
FAM and the government were stripped bare, exposed for the series of misinformation (read: lies) they concocted after being caught. The falsehoods peddled by officials have now come home to roost.
The lies perpetrated by government officials inside and outside the hallowed halls of Parliament seemed to allay fears of selective approvals, creating the perception that everything was above board and by the book.
How wrong they were - caught on the back foot by the world governing body and served on a platter by FAM.
Thrown under the bus
As predicted, FAM threw the government and its agencies under the bus, so to speak, on the advice of its Geneva-based legal counsel, Serge Vittoz, who last month made no secret of taking such an approach.
He declared at a media conference: “FAM was not a party to the forged documents.” I asked: “If not FAM, then who? The NRD? The government?
The report by Appeals Committee chairperson Neil Eggleston (United States), together with members Dan Kakaraya (Papua New Guinea) and Sam Ram (Fiji), tore apart FAM’s narrative - peeling back layer after layer to reveal a system rotten to the core.
The committee upheld its disciplinary body’s decision that FAM and the players had relied on falsified birth certificates to claim Malaysian ancestry for national-team selection.
It rejected the notion that FAM and the players had acted in good faith, especially after claiming there were “technical errors” and the wrong papers had been submitted.
The committee said the players signed naturalisation papers without reading them and made no attempt to verify the supposed Malaysian lineage.
In 40 days
ADSFAM’s summary of the submissions to the appeals committee ruling read like the infamous “my brother did it” claim by MACC chief Azam Baki when caught trading in securities while in office.
It took just over 40 days for citizenship papers - from Feb 7, when the Home Ministry issued formal invitations to two players, until March 17, completing the citizenship process, “passing” the requisite Malay language tests, taking the oath of allegiance, and the issuance of citizenship certificates. They were issued Malaysian identity cards (ICs) and passports the following day.
These “facts” were not picked from thin air - they formed part of FAM’s submission to the Appeals Committee.
This sequence of events underlines the “instant citizenship” saga, which I wrote about 18 months before the scandal broke, when the Malaysian team left for Doha to play in the Asian Cup qualifiers on New Year’s Day last year.
I asked: How did they end up playing for Malaysia? Like instant noodles, there’s also instant citizenship - courtesy of the NRD and Home Ministry, ever willing not merely to bend the law, but to break it outright.
At that time, there was total silence - not even a whimper or an attempt to provide answers because officials felt the invincibility of their positions and status, but were brought down to earth with a thud by Fifa.
Clear negligence
Fifa also ruled that FAM showed clear negligence in its handling of the naturalisation process, pointing to contradictory records, unverified ancestry claims, and a failure to address repeated requests for clarification from Fifa officials.
The committee said the falsifications gave Malaysia an “undue sporting gain” and dismissed arguments that the forgery was minor or merely administrative.
But then the laughable clincher was FAM’s claim that the Disciplinary Committee ruling was invalid because “it was issued by a single judge”.
How petty was that? Rightly, it was also thrown out.
The damning revelations published on Fifa’s website yesterday raised questions about FAM’s operations, especially the role of three personalities, Azman and two agents - Nicolas Puppo and Frederico Moraes, saying the roles of all three “require deeper scrutiny” as they were “part of the chain of events that led to the creation of the forged eligibility documents”.
But who from FAM made initial contact with the agent? Was Azman “directed” to do it, and hence, took the fall? Who gave the order, or was it an act of his own volition?
How are Badrul and Saifuddin going to justify their claims that “the players meet all the pre-requisites” when they confirmed they could not speak Malay?
A belligerent FAM
Hours after the verdict, FAM was still gung-ho, insisting it would initiate proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to ensure fairness and uphold the integrity of Malaysia’s player eligibility process.
Yet, in the face of these devastating revelations, FAM remains belligerent. It insists it will appeal to the CAS to “defend the rights of players” and “uphold the integrity of Malaysia’s player eligibility process.”
This is an absurdity. Defend what rights? These players did not qualify. They could not speak the national language and had not resided in Malaysia for the required 10 years.
Its acting president, Yusoff Mahadi, said FAM remains committed to “defending the rights of players” and will pursue the matter professionally, transparently, and through proper legal channels.
What? Since when did they qualify? It has been established with the players confessing that they cannot speak Malay and have not resided in Malaysia for 10 years.
The only thing FAM is defending now is its own indefensible deception. - Mkini
R NADESWARAN says it is game, set, and match to Fifa and nothing will change at the CAS with the same facts and the same line of defence. Comments: [email protected]
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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