COMMENT | What happens after the FAM apology?

COMMENT | We have watched this movie before. Whenever Malaysia is hit by a scandal large enough to attract serious public or international attention, the machinery springs into action.

Investigations are announced. Committees are formed. Reports are commissioned. We are assured that the truth will emerge, those responsible will be identified, and lessons will be learned.

Then comes the harder question: What happens after the report?

We saw it with Teoh Beng Hock’s death, PKFZ, the littoral combat ship fiasco and, more recently, Tabung Haji. Different scandals. Different institutions. Different circumstances. And yet the uncomfortable question remains: When everything has been investigated, who is actually held accountable?

Now we have the Football Association (FAM).

Fifa found that FAM submitted falsified documents in the eligibility process for seven players. Fifa imposed sanctions, including a CHF350,000 fine on FAM. The players were also sanctioned. The Court of Arbitration for Sport later dismissed FAM’s appeal, while partially amending the players’ sanctions.

The new FAM president, Ab Ghani Hassan, has apologised to Malaysian football fans and promised that such an episode will not happen again under his leadership.

Fine.

So, in this episode, who is being held responsible? Is anyone potentially criminally liable?

The police said they received 45 reports, recorded statements from 43 witnesses, and identified two people believed to be involved in the alleged forgery.

An earlier FAM Independent Investigation Committee could not conclusively establish who falsified the documents. The certifying notary did not cooperate, and the players’ agents could not be located. Yet the committee also found serious failures in FAM’s oversight, due diligence, and administrative controls.

Sound familiar?

We could not establish who was responsible. The person could not be located. The investigation is ongoing.

Except this time, the independent committee itself said a police investigation was needed to establish the origin of the suspected forged documents and identify those responsible. FAM subsequently lodged a police report.

So where does that investigation stand today? That is surely one of the questions Malaysians deserve answered.

If the independent committee could not identify those responsible, can the police? And if not, why not?

Where did the system fail?

Nevertheless, the questions do not stop there.

Who checked the documents? Who verified the ancestry claims? Who authorised the registrations? What due diligence was actually carried out before the documents reached Fifa? Were discrepancies or warning signs missed, and if so, why? Who had the authority to stop the process if something looked wrong?

Was this individual misconduct, institutional failure, or both?

These are not unreasonable questions. They are basic questions of accountability.

Incredibly, FAM now has an Integrity Committee. Why?

If proper governance and integrity procedures were already embedded within FAM, how did falsified documents get through the system?

An Integrity Committee may help prevent the next scandal. But it cannot, by itself, answer who was responsible for the last one.

So what exactly will this committee do differently?

Will it examine what went wrong previously, or simply put new procedures in place for the future?

Follow the paper trail

Then there is the paper trail, and the money.

What do FAM’s previous accounts and records tell us? Were there payments to agents or intermediaries connected with the players? Who approved them? Were the relevant transactions properly recorded?

If FAM’s accounts and controls were audited, did they detect any warning signs?

An audit is not a guarantee that fraud will be uncovered. However, if evidence shows professional duties being improperly discharged, could there be consequences?

How about compensation? Could players, clubs, or other affected parties have grounds to seek compensation? If claims are made, who would pay?

And if FAM has to pay compensation or damages, what would that mean for its future finances?

There are other glaring issues. Stateless Malaysians and many Malaysians married to foreign spouses spend years navigating the requirements for citizenship for their children. They wonder if the rules were applied equally.

The citizenship process and Fifa eligibility are not the same thing. However, when apparently false documentation reaches an international sporting organisation, Malaysians are entitled to ask: How did this happen? Were there effectively two standards?

Harder part comes next

So what happens now?

The new FAM administration has promised that this will not happen again. But promises are not a timetable.

What remains unresolved? Which investigations are still active? Who is responsible for completing them? When will the findings be made public? When will disciplinary decisions be made?

When will Malaysians be told what has actually changed?

Saying “it will not happen again” is easy. Much harder is establishing what happened, identifying who was responsible, and making sure there are consequences where wrongdoing is proven.

Otherwise, what exactly have we learned?

When Malaysia is embarrassed on the international stage, who is actually held responsible - and what exactly happens after the FAM apology?

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). Find her on her website and on X.

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

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