Sjkc Sjkt Elderly Citizens Who Speak Little Malay Owe Fifa Gratitude For Exposing Home Minister S Folly

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IN March 2024, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail uploaded on social media his working visit to view the Bahasa Melayu (BM) Knowledge Test for citizenship applicants under Article 19(1) of the Federal Constitution at the Kompleks KDN in Ipoh.
Under Article 19 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution, an applicant must possess an “adequate knowledge of the Malay language” prior to be granted citizenship by naturalisation.
What was interesting about the video was the very fact that the senator minister zoomed in on him evaluating one elderly citizenship applicant her BM proficiency using images of local food with vigour and later greeted/chatted with others condescendingly in “very basic” Malay.

While rightists praised him for ensuring that applicants are vetted on their ability to speak the national language, detractors ticked off Saifuddin for his PR (public relations) stunt by subjecting “our elderly through infantilising and demeaning conversations to prove their right to a citizenship”.
True enough, Saifuddin who lost his Bandar Kulim Baharu parliamentary seat to Bersatu’s Roslan Hashim in the 2022 national polls had the table turned on him some 48 hours ago courtesy of a dumbfounded International Federation of Association Football’s (FIFA).
FIFA’s investigation and subsequent sanctions revealed that seven “heritage” players who had been granted Malaysian citizenship reportedly told the world’s football governing body that they do not speak BM despite having passed the required language test for their citizenship applications.
This is somehow contrarian to the claim by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the Home Ministry that the players met all the legal citizenship criteria, including passing the said basic BM test.
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Henceforth, wouldn’t FIFA – or Malaysians at large who are enraged at the shameful naturalisation-turns-awry debacle – curious to know if Saifuddin had personally quizzed the players in similar vigour like how he did with the elderly folks who were applying for citizenship a year ago?
In similar light, this FIFA exposé has also put Saifuddin and rightists a.k.a. the ketuanan gang who have been championing the abolishment of vernacular schools in a tight spot vis-à-vis their threat of revoking the citizenship of those who are inept in their BM.

Wrose still, the firebrand UMNO Youth chief who is a staunch defender of race and religion is too busy campaigning on Barisan Nasional’s (BN) behalf for the Nov 29 Sabah state election to defend or turn the tide on detractors.

All in all. the language issue is part of a larger scandal involving the falsification and forgery of documents.
FIFA concluded that doctored documents were used to claim the players had Malaysian grandparents when, in fact, their grandparents were born in other countries (eg Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands).
With the FIFA Appeal Committee having dismissed appeals by FAM and the players, the national football body, FAM has stated that it will take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
If this last resort fails, it will be status quo on FIFA’s sanctions which come with significant fines on FAM (350,000 Swiss Francs) and the seven individual players (2,000 Swiss Francs each) in addition to a 12-month suspension on the players for 12 months from all football-related activities.
As for Saifuddin, his use of discretion in granting citizenship to these players is under huge scrutiny. – Nov 20, 2025

- Focus Malaysia

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