How deceit and fraud have shamed Malaysian football

Malaysian football, once celebrated as the game of the ordinary person, has been catapulted into an international arena of deceit, corruption, and disrepute.

It may take years, perhaps decades, for Malaysian football to regain its lost credibility and international reputation. The greed to rely on foreign players for easy victories has shattered the hard work and genuine efforts of local talents who once formed the pride of the nation.

At the national level, homegrown players are being sidelined in favour of imported talents. 

Third- and fourth-rate foreign players are being bought and fast-tracked to citizenship through deceitful means, all in the desperate hope of winning matches.

The recent exposure by FIFA of how the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) attempted to legitimise seven foreign players by doctoring documents has destroyed the country’s already fragile reputation.

These forged documents, reportedly passed from the National Registration Department (NRD) to FIFA, revealed the extent of the manipulation before the fraud was finally uncovered.

In an attempt to cover up this embarrassing international scandal, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution invoked his ministerial discretion under the law to justify granting citizenship to the seven players from Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina.

What is deeply troubling, however, is the selective use of discretionary powers. While hundreds, if not thousands, of eligible individuals have been waiting for years or even decades for their rightful citizenship, foreign players were granted it almost instantly. This blatant double standard raises more questions than answers.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad bluntly stated that powerful figures in the country who are "above the law" are behind the decision to grant citizenship to these players.

Malaysia has long experimented with hiring expensive foreign players, yet their presence has done little to improve the quality of local football, especially in national tournaments. 

The granting of citizenship to these players makes little sense when, once their contracts or playing days are over, they are likely to leave the country altogether.

Saifuddin went so far as to defend his decision by claiming that the players were proficient in the Malay language. 

However, he never disclosed how their language proficiency was tested, nor did he provide any credible justification for invoking his discretionary powers in this case.

The scandal surrounding FAM and the home ministry is not merely about football. It reflects the deeper rot of selective governance and misplaced priorities in Malaysia’s public institutions.

P Ramasamy is the former deputy chief minister of Penang and chairman of Urimai.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.