Ousted Pakatan Rakyat menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is accusing the Perak Barisan Nasional of conspiring to remove him as president of the Perak Football Association (PFA). He claims that Perak BN has been denying state funds to PFA, aiming to financially strangle the association.

nizar interview parliament 261009 "First they ousted me as the legitimate menteri besar of Perak and now they are conspiring to also remove me as PFA president even though I was legally elected by the association last November," he said.

Nizar has been elected as president for a two-year term and he wants to complete his term by turning around the PFA, which has been financially in the red since 2006.

"They are trying to influence the association committee members to revolt against me and to call for an EGM (Extra General Meeting) to oust me," said Nizar. He claims that the Perak BN has been withholding funds from the PFA as a calculated ploy to prompt a call for an EGM.

When asked if it is a condition that the head of PFA must be the menteri besar of the state, Nizar explained that it only applies to states like Kedah and Selangor but not in the case of Perak.

"Do not bring the political elements into soccer as this will have far reaching implications for the association," he warned.

He cited FIFA, the world governing body for football, which has a ruling that no politics should come into and influence the administration of soccer bodies.

Nizar pointed out that when the Brunei government took over the administration of its state football association, FIFA at once blacklisted the association from the world body.

Follow Kelantan's example

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 04 He called on Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir to be sporting and release the state funds to PFA, following the example of the PAS Kelantan state government.

Nizar explained that the Kelantan state government cooperates and releases state funds to the Kelantan Football Association, although it is headed by an Umno member Anuar Musa.

"Kelantan does not play politics (with) the state football association's affairs likewise BN Perak must also follow suit," Nizar reasoned.

"Besides, when I was menteri besar, I had released state funds of RM550,000 to PFA although BN was controlling the association." He said that likewise, Zambry should do the same in this case.

The ousted menteri besar had also written appeal letters for the release of state funds to Zambry and the state financial officer about five months ago but received no response.

When Nizar took over the helm of PFA, he found to his dismay that it had no fund allocations for 2009. The previous BN administrator had borrowed the funds in advance from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and had used it up.

Nizar had applied to the FAM to again advance the 2010 allocations of RM250,000 for this year, as had been done previously by his BN counterpart but was rejected.

Perak FA's financial woes

The former menteri besar also has to deal with PFA's RM4 million in debts, accumulated from 2006 and 2008. PFA's liabilities include non-remittance of EPF, SOCSO and income tax deductions as well as unpaid rental charges to the Ipoh City Council for using the avenues during matches.

Nizar was also denied access to the usage of the state stadiums for football practises as well as the use of state coaches to ferry players to matches.

Instead, PFA players and staff had to practise at the Ipoh Padang.

Many good players have also left the PFA as they were not paid their salaries when the BN was administering the association.

Nizar is proud of the fact that despite all the obstacles and setbacks the Perak team did make it to the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Cup.

FAM has now introduced a ruling that all state football associations must contribute RM250,000 to be eligible for the next football season next year.

A few states had not been able to comply with the new ruling but Perak, although case-strapped, has Perak PAS Youth to the rescue. PAS' Youth Wing has launched a campaign to collect RM1 from each Perakian to help the sport survive in the silver state.