COMMENT | In the Malaysian context, both truth and lies exist alongside each other, most of the time complementing each other, fudging or even preventing the correct information or facts from reaching the public.
For citizens, the Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (EAIC) is the last bastion of truth - an organisation that seeks the truth but has no power to prosecute.
Like the royal commission inquiry of the past, it seeks to establish where governance failed, procedures were overlooked, and compliance was non-existent.
Monday’s EAIC response to my request came as a mild surprise: its hearings were open to the public, but with a caveat - the commission can use its discretion to prevent access for security reasons.
I can understand and appreciate the stand - the commissioners have to follow the laws enacted by Parliament, and hence they are merely applying the law.
But why did our lawmakers, when promulgating the legislation, impose this condition?
Claims of defence that the truth would cause distrust and a run on its deposits were given and accepted as a plausible reason in the Tabung Haji scandal.
‘Heritage’ players fiasco
However, the search for the truth about the footballers who caused the country’s name to be dragged through the drain to the sewers has not ended…yet.
The damning indictment by the Appeals Committee of the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) still reverberates around the sporting world:
“Using fraudulent documentation to allow a player to compete constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating, which cannot in any way be condoned.”
Doesn’t anyone care if we are called cheats?Ten months on, the scandal still smoulders - truth lies in plain sight, yet it remains buried beneath silence and deceit, the daily currency of power.”
But in seeking the truth, the starting point has to be Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose actions may hold the key to how and why we have been treated with contempt and dislike, and made a laughing stock.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
The morning after Malaysia beat Vietnam 4-0 in the Asia Cup qualifier in June last year, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) thanked him not only for the financial support through special allocations for Harimau Malaya, but also acknowledged that the government facilitated the documentation process for new heritage players, enabling them to feature in the match.
So, it was a tacit and implicit admission that the government “organised” the citizenship to enable the seven foreigners to play.
Yes, the prime minister and his government accepted the plaudits for their efforts, especially from the football fans.
PM’s silence is deafening
However, sad to say, despite making headlines shouting himself hoarse about honesty and integrity, his silence on this issue is deafening.
Will he lead the voice for greater openness - the truth - or maintain his golden silence for political expediency or otherwise?
Next, we have to ask about the parliamentary statement by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who claimed Article 20(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution provides discretionary power to a home minister when considering a citizenship application from a foreigner, particularly in the fulfilment of the minimum residency requirements.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
As human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen pointed out: “… the residence requirement is clear and unambiguous, with no room or provision for Saifuddin to grant an exemption or improvise.”
Next question: Who submitted the application? Was it an individual or the FAM? Can a sports body apply on behalf of the players?
EAIC points out irregularities
But the EAIC noted: “The minister had exercised his powers and discretion in granting special approval to the players, taking into account their contribution to football and the potential to bring glory to the country.
“However, the task force found that consideration of the requirements for the special approvals had been carried out within an extremely short period and in an irregular manner.”
The EAIC, among other issues, identified irregularities in the issuance of entry permits involving the interview process and security screening conducted by the Immigration Department on the players.
Yet, another agency under the Home Ministry - the National Registration Department (NRD) - is the cog in the wheel that processed falsified documents, declared them to be true, and issued MyKads which the players used to submit applications for citizenship, and then passports.
In a note in the form of a statutory declaration to Fifa, New Straits Times reported NRD director-general Badrul Hisham Alias saying: “NRD never received the original birth certificate, and instead issued a new birth certificate based on secondary information and foreign documents from Argentina, Brazil, and Spain.”
According to the NRD, all required documents were submitted by the applicants and cross-checked with records from Argentina, Brazil, and Spain.
National Registration Department director-general Badrul Hisham Alias
While original handwritten birth records could not be retrieved from historical archives, official copies were issued based on the evidence. The process also confirmed residency in Malaysia, sufficient knowledge of Malay, and good conduct.
How did they pass the language test without being able to speak Malay? Who conducted the test? Shouldn’t the NRD be culpable?
So, isn’t there a contradiction between the EAIC findings and Badrul’s claims?
But NRD’s deceit had already been called out by Fifa which held that the seven footballers granted Malaysian citizenship don't have any grandparents born in the country as claimed.
In the grounds of its ruling to sanction FAM and the seven players, 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.
NRD and the verification players were caught with their pants down.
What about FAM?
Finally, we have to address the perpetrators of this drama - the FAM.
This has been asked before and it is worth repeating: Who was responsible for hiring the agents to recruit the foreigners? Was it the FAM president, his deputy, the secretary general, or the entire council?
When the Fifa Disciplinary Committee pulled up FAM, the immediate response was that it was a technical error in the administrative staff's document submission process.
FAM continued to state it did not do anything wrong, but added yet another ridiculous reason - it is legally barred from disclosing details about the seven foreign players, citing Malaysian laws governing official secrets and passport procedures.
FAM stressed that Fifa’s claim that the players “obtained or were aware of forged documents” was unfounded, as no solid evidence had been presented to support the allegation.
After Fifa’s Appeals Committee rejected the appeal, I wrote: “The global governing body’s core finding still stands, unexpunged and echoing in the football pitches of international sports and hallowed halls of governments:
“Using fraudulent documentation to allow a player to compete constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating, which cannot in any way be condoned.
“This was more than a ruling; the fact stated subjected Malaysian football and its systems of governance to global odium, ridicule, and contempt.”
Then there was FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi declaring that it will take its challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), describing it as “a major war” to defend Malaysia’s footballing reputation, adding that all resources would be used.
I asked: “But what kind of war is this, when the generals march empty-handed? The birth certificates of the players’ grandparents presented by FAM are forged. CAS will have access to the originals, and FAM will be left with egg - not honour - on their faces”
You can’t get different results by relying on the same set of documents. Naturally, FAM retreated with its tail between its legs.
If one reads the various reports from Fifa, FAM, its officials, the government and the EAIC, he or she can come to an understanding of what transpired.
So, how do we get the truth?
Anwar must act
The process must start from the very top. For a man who promised openness, Anwar has been restricted on this fiasco, preferring to exercise his oratory skills, mesmerising selected audiences - but not a word about the deceit carried out by his government officials.
He must lead the way for Saifuddin, Badrul, FAM officials and other officials to start telling the truth.
If he had not sanctioned such an act, why did FAM thank his government for “facilitating the documentation process for new heritage players”, which is a misnomer because they had no heritage - they were journeymen (read: sports mercenaries) who got paid hundreds of thousands of ringgit by our taxpayers' money to just change their nationality to represent Malaysia - albeit illegally.
But will he do it and put this behind in our country’s history? Or, because it serves no political purpose, will it be ignored and fade into oblivion?
The scandal over Malaysia’s naturalised footballers is more than a sporting misstep - it is a damning reflection of how silence, excuses, and irregularities corrode governance.
The EAIC flagged irregular approvals, the NRD knowingly processed falsified documents, and the FAM deflected blame with evasions.
Yet the loudest silence comes from the prime minister, whose government facilitated the process but has offered no accountability.
If Malaysia is serious about integrity, its leaders must confront the truth rather than bury it under political expediency. Otherwise, this episode will remain as a permanent stain on the nation’s credibility.
R. NADESWARAN started his journalistic career as a sports reporter more than 50 years ago and continues to be a close observer of sports and its administrators. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com
***
Almost everyone knows and that includes the PM and Home Minister - no point nor fair in continuing to blame them. This is Malaysia and there are things we (even a PM) cannot overcome, eg. gunung yang sangat tinggi. So lay off Nades, we all appreciate you have done more than the best but the Malaysian limit has been reached.
