'Heritage' players: EAIC finds irregularities, urges review of process, documents

The Enforcement Agency Commission (EAIC) has urged the National Registration Department (NRD) and the Home Ministry to review the process and documents used to grant citizenship to seven “heritage” players.

The recommendation comes after it found irregularities in how the football players were granted citizenship under the naturalisation process, based on Article 19(2) of the Federal Constitution.

While EAIC acknowledges the home minister’s discretionary powers under the Constitution to consider citizenship applications, the commission said it found issues in the applications, noting that applicants even received approvals within a short time frame.

“There were irregularities in the issuance of entry permits involving the interview process and security clearance for the seven footballers by the Immigration Department.

“We also found issues in relation to NRD’s screening process over the players’ Malay language proficiency.

“Plus, there was non-compliance in confirming whether the players had relinquished their previous citizenship and surrendered their previous passports to the Immigration Department,” the commission said in a statement.

The Malaysian law does not allow dual citizenship. One who obtains Malaysian citizenship must relinquish their previous citizenship.

Fifa sanctions

Last year, the International Association Football Federation (Fifa) initiated an investigation into the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven Harimau Malaya players - Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Manchuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel.

The players concerned were found guilty of violating Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code regarding document forgery.

Fifa’s investigations revealed that two of the players were allowed to sit for a citizenship test and granted MyKads within two days of entry permits into the country being approved.

The players were even considered to have passed their Malay language test despite admitting to Fifa that they don’t speak the language at all.

FAM filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where the latter upheld Fifa’s decision to impose a 12-month suspension on the players involved and slap FAM with a fine worth 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million).

‘Improve SOP’

Suggesting improvements, EAIC called upon the NRD and Home Ministry to establish a specific standard operating protocol (SOP) when issuing citizenship under Article 19 (2) of the Federal Constitution.

The SOP, it added, should cover areas such as prioritising how long an individual has resided in Malaysia before considering their application.

EAIC also urged the authorities to impose a specific timeline for new citizens to relinquish their previous citizenship and penalise them if they fail to provide proof of having met the requirement.

“NRD should also establish a clear guideline on how a registrar-general could use his discretionary powers to issue a birth certificate under Section 10A of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957.

“This discretionary power must only be invoked if the registrar-general is satisfied that due diligence has been conducted (over the applications).

“And the Immigration Department, along with the police, must come up with an SOP to tighten their screening process when approving entry permits and citizenship,” it added.

Last year, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat that he had exercised his power granted under the Federal Constitution to consider the seven “heritage” footballers fit to be granted Malaysian citizenship.

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

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