COMMENT | What happens if heritage footballers fight back?

COMMENT | The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) appears to treat the International Federation of Association Football’s (Fifa) forgery allegation as a mere inconvenience rather than a crisis that strikes at the heart of sporting integrity.

Moreover, its indifference towards Nepal's latest complaint about the "heritage footballers" is worrying.

Its lack of urgency suggests that FAM has underestimated the reputational damage to Malaysian football.

Is FAM's tactic designed to distract us and deflect scrutiny from deeper accountability issues within its own ranks?

How bad are the governance issues in the association?

The Fifa sanctions against FAM and seven foreign-born players are not just a football scandal. It is a serious governance crisis.

Winning trumps integrity?

Why were both due diligence and responsibility ignored? Did FAM think that scoring goals to win tournaments, to gain prestige, honour and glory, meant that they could simply dismiss integrity, pride and principles?

Fifa suspended the seven players, Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano for 12 months for breaching its rules on forgery and falsification.

The careers of the heritage footballers are now on hold.

As professionals, they are aware that time spent away from competitive football costs them experience, contracts, sponsorships, and momentum. Their reputations are now trashed, even if they personally had no part in any wrongdoing.

Were they aware of the scam? Did they leave the details to their agents? Were the agents aware? Were their clubs aware?

Sadly, this is no longer just about football. It is about national integrity, citizenship, the abuse of discretionary powers, procedural integrity, failure of governance, and most importantly, the urgent need to hold officials accountable.

Answers needed

When DAP MP Ramkarpal Singh called for a full police investigation following the National Registration Department’s (NRD) denial of any involvement in the document falsification, he demanded answers.

If Fifa’s investigations point to forgery, then who falsified the documents, especially after the NRD's denial? What offences were committed under the Penal Code? Have the police taken statements from all parties involved, such as the players, the NRD officers, and ministry officials?

If the NRD claimed that it merely verified eligibility for citizenship, are they saying that they based eligibility on forged documentation? How is this possible? Many will in future have doubts about any NRD official documentation, especially when its own officials cannot recognise forged papers?

Moreover, when Urimai secretary Satees Muniandy lodged a police report about the heritage players scandal, he was told that the case was closed, without further action, because “no elements of a criminal offence" had been committed.

The speed with which the police acted and the reason given should immediately raise warning signals about the whole saga.

Was the investigation prematurely terminated, and under whose orders and why? This is why we need a transparent and independent probe.

Malaysians and Malaysian football are not the only victims of this forgery. The heritage players are also victims, and that is if we assume that they are not aware of being dragged into the forgery scandal.

Are they complicit? Are they the innocent victims of the lack of governance and administrative failures within FAM, from the NRD, to the Home Ministry? How much did they know? Were they prepared to take the risks?

Fightback possible

Despite all that, Malaysians probably realise that these footballers may fight back, through the courts.

The Fifa suspension for a year will be catastrophic. The footballers cannot compete, and this translates to lost opportunities for experience, visibility, and income.

They may train with their original clubs in their home countries, as one player, Machuca, has now done, but they cannot play competitively or participate in matches.

There is a financial cost because sponsorship deals can vanish, and their market value and reputation are further damaged.

One thoughtless forgery has not just cost the players their future careers, but Malaysians have lost faith in the system and are thoroughly disgusted by the greed, stupidity and lack of integrity of their officials.

Reputational damage

People may not be aware, but the damage to the nation is real and immediate. We risk our international reputation because Malaysia is now seen as a place which tolerates forgery.

Stateless citizens wait decades to have their citizenship approved, but the heritage footballers became citizens almost overnight.

The cost of taking shortcuts is borne by the people and potentially by innocent players. FAM's shortcuts cost us our national pride.

If FAM and the Home Ministry, including the youth and sports minister, were unable to detect forged documentation, then what else is being slipped through elsewhere?

Contrary to FAM's beliefs, this forgery is not a “technical matter”, but is a matter of pride and national identity. Citizenship cannot be manipulated for sporting gain.

Our experience with past scandals means that this forgery also risks being kicked into the long grass of Malaysian failures, where no one is found responsible.

Ramkarpal is right about the police acting quickly, transparently, and without fear or favour.

We are dragged into another global disrepute, but we must keep fighting: for our country, for integrity and for accountability. Not punishing anyone means that we tolerate fraud at the highest levels.

More importantly, the heritage footballers should also fight for their names and careers.

If no one is held accountable, there can be no trust, no justice and no future.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, X.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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