Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin does not entirely agree with the proposal that politicians and the royalty should be banned from holding positions in sports associations.

The Umno Youth chief said there were both pros and cons of having politicians and the royalty involved in sports associations.

"I can give the example of a member from a royal family which can be said to have having succeeded in a sports association," said Khairy duing an interview on talk show #TanyaGomen today.

"There is a state from the south whose (football) team is quite good.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Khairy then asked the host of the programme, Zan Azlee, which elicited laughter from the crowd.

Although Khairy did not mention the name of Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim explicitly, it is public knowledge that the latter has played an active role in Johor's football affairs.

His relationship with Khairy, however, has not been the best, with the former having written an open letter to the minister once, reminding him that he was responsible for serving the people as a politician.

Khairy also pointed out how a state football team from the East Coast had improved after receiving the 'touch' of a politician.

Again he did not mention anyone's name though Kelantan Football Association president Annuar Musa, a former minister, had been actively involved in developing the football scene in his state.

"So you can't just say politicians are useless and that the royalty should not be involved.

"To me it's not so much the type of person but it's actually the person (itself)," he said.

People power idea

Khairy also stressed that as minister of youth and sports, he had no power to change the president and office-bearers of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

"A question I always receive from football fans is that. But the ministry only acts as a regulator [...] we cannot appoint the president of FAM.

"I can only suspend and cancel the registration of sports associations.

"Sports associations are political organisations because they have elections. Like it or not, there will be politicking," he said.

"If you don't like the president of FAM, don't ask me to reshuffle (the association).

"The one which has the power to do so this are the affiliates and the affiliates are the state football associations.

"Who are they? They are your menteris besar, they are all the presidents of the respective state associations.

"So tell them that you will boycott state football matches if they do not vote the candidate that you want (as FAM president). That is people power," he said.

He, however, added that this was a mere suggestion. "This is just an example. Don't do it," he said to laughter from the audience.

"I am only giving an example of how this (changing the FAM president) can happen," he said.

The minister also commented on whether the Malaysian football team should hire a foreign coach.

Not deserving yet

He had this analogy to give: "If it is a second or third-hand car and you put a Formula 1 driver behind the wheels, it's performance may be better. But it (still) is what it is".

He was then asked whether the local football team was deserving of a coach like Brazilian coach and former soccer star Zico.

"I think if we achieve the level where the team is deserving of a coach like Zico, then we should get him.

"But our team today is not deserving to get the coaching of someone like Zico.

"When we have a deserving team, then I will have no qualms to invest in getting a famous coach to become the national coach," he said.

The Malaysian football team was thrashed 0-10 by the United Arab Emirates in a World Cup qualifier game last week which Khairy had labelled as "utterly humiliating".

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