COMMENT A lot of people have asked me, “Tunku what were you thinking when you decided to contest for the FAM presidency.” Some have even said, “FAM is a bad organisation, what are you doing?”

My answer to that is, FAM is not a bad organisation, FAM is a good organisation, but is currently run by the wrong people. Let us not forget that FAM needs a leader who is born to serve the people. People with the will to continue to serve football for the people.

FAM does not need people who are hungry for power and pretends to serve the people when in fact, they are only serving their own personal interests and benefits. This is a wonderful organisation and it's sad that it is being completely destroyed by these irresponsible people.

I think it is premature to speak about my intentions and visions. Nonetheless, all would be revealed very soon. There is no point of telling people now and in the end I end up losing.

I am saying this because I know there are a lot of state affiliates who would be supporting Anuar Musa under the instructions from the youth and sports minister. Well, I am the guy who likes to take action because I believe actions speaks louder than words. I am the guy who would implement whatever it takes to improve the organisation.

Like I have said before, I don’t like to talk too much. All I can say is that you can’t cross the sea simply by standing and staring at the water, you have to swim. Let me tell you this; failure will never ever overtake us because our determination to succeed is very strong.

Unity is our strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. JDT is a proven case but you have to understand that JDT is one club. FAM on the other hand, is a big organisation and the way to improve is not for the national team to go to the World Cup. What needs to be done first is to clean up our house and this involves the whole the structure of the organisation.

FAM is run by the affiliates. Some of the affiliates love football and some of them do not. For those who do not, they are there for reasons that I don't know. The idea is for the affiliates to get off their backsides and start working hard from within their own affiliates. Secondly, they should give football back to the people. Again, I will elaborate further on this matter but not now.

There are a lot of people wanting to know what I am thinking. I don’t want to share it with the media, as I don’t want them to know what I am thinking and what I am about to do. But know this, what I would do would be something the football fans in Malaysia would never forget. I do not need a long time to do it, but they would never forget it. Whatever I do, I do it for the people. Not for myself, it is common knowledge that football is not my bread and butter.

I am doing it because the people insisted that I do it and fix things. Apart from this, my father wanted me to have a fair go and take this opportunity to make a change. This is the only reason why I am doing it. I did not decide to do it because I wanted to, but rather, it is the fear of what would happen should this football institution fall into the wrong hands. If that happens, we would all be back to square one.

To change and revamp FAM, this is our chance. The chance is now. This is our chance to change it forever and bring it to the likes of Japan, Thailand and all other successful countries.

'This is not a one-man show'

I won’t be able to accomplish it alone. This is not a one-man show, and if I were to do it, it would be with the people. This is the time for us to improve and move forward together. Stay united as one and then implement the ideas and policies together with the common aim to further develop the football of our nation.

Together, we would do it well so that one day our children and grandchildren would look at our accomplishments and would be proud of us for achieving success despite being handed spoils from an organisation that has been in power for 30 years. Let us be remembered as the saviours of Malaysian football.

I would be coming to KL next week to represent my father at the Rulers Conference. I would like to take this opportunity to invite all fans across the nation to come to see me and ask me anything they want. They can take this opportunity to voice out their current disappointments or rather anything they want and I would give them my point of view and solutions.

I am not afraid to face the fans, nor am I nervous because I know what I’m doing. I know what I am about to do and I am very confident that we would get results.

However, I am not interested to speak to members of the media as they may twist my words. I am also not interested to speak to any affiliates who are not interested to listen as I have said before, some of them do not have the intention to improve football.

I would only like to speak to people who really want to improve football and I believe those people are the fans. I am prepared to be the voice of the fans, representing the fans to further develop and improve football. I am here to serve you and this is the chance for you to tell me what you want and I would do the best I can to get it done.

This article was first published on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page.

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