A long ball to nowhere: Accountability in Malaysia's football fiasco

The country's heritage-player scandal is the latest test of Anwar's reformasi promise that impunity belongs in the past.

- Bhavan Jaipragas Deputy Opinion Editor

As Singapore football fans' nail-biting in front of screens turned into ecstasy on Nov 18, watching the men's team clinch historic qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup, the mood across the Causeway could not have been more different.

It is true that, playing at Bukit Jalil Stadium that same night, the Malaysian "Harimau Malaya" beat Nepal 1-0 to maintain their perfect record on the road to Saudi Arabia.

But casting a pall over that unbeaten run was the now notorious player eligibility scandal, in which Malaysian football authorities stand accused of being party to falsifying naturalisation documents so that seven foreign-born players could turn out for the national team.

The fallout – the seven players are now suspended and the very real possibility of Malaysia being ejected from the Asian Cup despite their winning streak - has been top of mind since the saga broke in September.

Making matters worse was the release, on the morning of the Nepal game on Nov 18, of a damning report from FIFA, football's world governing body, setting out in full why an appeal against the initial ban was rejected.

For a sense of how fans feel, a banner unfurled by some supporters carried an expletive aimed at the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and a blunt plea to clean up the mess. “Don’t sell off the nation’s dignity. It is not for sale,” the banner read.

The saga combines what looks, at face value, like an attempt at fraud carried out almost in plain sight with deep-seated questions about institutional governance and accountability at FAM and at the Ministry of Home Affairs, which oversees citizenship matters.

Small wonder some Malaysian commentators have wondered aloud if it will stain the country's international reputation in the way the 1MDB scandal did. At this stage, comparisons with one of the worst kleptocracy cases anywhere in the world are clearly overblown. But it is not hard to see where the instinct comes from.