'Heritage' footballers met all requirements under my discretion - Saifuddin

PARLIAMENT | Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had exercised his power granted under the Constitution to consider the seven "heritage" footballers as fit to be granted Malaysian citizenship, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.

Saifuddin said Article 20(1)(e) provides discretionary power to a home minister when considering a citizenship application from a foreigner, particularly in the fulfilment of the minimum residency requirements.

"In the Constitution, there is a section called 20(1)(e), where the minister can use his discretionary powers.

"The power under 20(1)(e) means that the definition of 'residency' in the Constitution allows for the applicant's presence outside the country to still be considered as being within the country.

"That is the legal language used in this book, in this text. I applied Section 20(1)(e) to fulfil the residency requirement," he said during Minister's Question Time.

Saifuddin was responding to queries regarding the controversy surrounding the naturalisation of seven football players, which had been doubted by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa).

Citizenship requirements

It was understood that the minister was referring to Section 20(1)(e) under the third part of the Constitution's Second Schedule.

It reads: "In calculating for the purposes of Part III of this Constitution, any residence in the federation, a period of absence from the federation for any other cause prescribed generally or specially by the minister, shall be treated as residence in the federation.”

According to Saifuddin, for a foreigner to be considered for Malaysian citizenship through naturalisation, he or she has to fulfil Article 19 of the Federal Constitution.

It requires the person to make the application personally and not through any agent. The person must have resided in Malaysia for a certain duration, portray good behaviour, and have proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia.

The application also has to go through a process as stipulated under the Citizenship Rules 1964.

Sufficient BM proficiency

He stressed that all seven players had fulfilled the requirements under the law to be granted citizenship by naturalisation, including having proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia.

According to the minister, the players had displayed sufficient proficiency in the national language as per a basic test by the National Registration Department.

"(They) have enough Bahasa Malaysia knowledge, or as described by Jerlun (MP Abdul Ghani Ahmad), sufficient.

"Meaning that they can understand what we say," Saifuddin told the august house.

Fifa sanctions

Regarding the issue of Fifa disputing information submitted by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the seven players as “falsified”, Saifuddin said he would leave the matter to Fifa and FAM.

On Sept 26, Fifa imposed sanctions against FAM and the seven players for breaches of Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code on forgery and falsification.

Fifa said FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility, enabling them to feature in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Vietnam on June 10.

Fifa also determined that FAM must pay a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.9 million), while each of the seven players was also slapped with a 2,000 Swiss francs (RM10,500) fine.

The 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, were also suspended 12 months from all football-related activities.

In the grounds of its ruling, Fifa revealed it had acquired the original birth documents of the players’ "Malaysian-born" grandparents, which contradicted the allegedly doctored documents submitted by the Malaysian side.

It also casts doubt on the NRD verification of the players’ supposed Malaysian heritage.

Reporting by Hariz Mohd, Qistina Nadia Dzulqarnain, B Nantha Kumar

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