After the recent 10-0 drubbing at the hands of UAE, Malaysian football has landed under the microscope.
Early this week, disgruntled fans forced the match with Saudi Arabia at the Shah Alam Stadium to be cancelled after flares and fireworks were thrown onto the pitch.
Though the fans were criticised, Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim said it is the Football Association Malaysia (FAM) which has embarrassed the nation for more than three decades, since the time of the former president.
FAM was previously led by Pahang ruler Sultan Ahmad Shah. The association is currently under the leadership of his son and crown prince, Tengku Abdullah (photo), who has since announced that he would relinquish the post.
In an interview posted on the Johor Southern Tigers football team Facebook page, Tunku Ismail said: "Even though I am strongly against the behavior of the fans, I understand their frustrations as the governing bodies never made the efforts to change and improve Malaysian football."
"This is because FAM's biggest problem is that it is run by people who have no clue about football and they are there for their own personal interests.
"In regards to the media reports on fans, I have a message to certain journalists. I know that FAM employs certain journalists to cover stories on the team when they are overseas. I also know when they do follow the team, these journalist are given free airfare, pocket money as well as money for shopping.
"So to those journalists, please stop sucking up to FAM and put the blame on the fans and labeling them as the destroyers of Malaysian football. FAM is the reason the country's football is in shambles," he added.
To another question on what he would do should be become FAM president, the Johor prince said topping the list would be to "clean up every single mess".
"After 31 years, I may need to take one year to do the cleaning up," he added.
'FAM needs right people'
Secondly, Tunku Ismail (photo) said, he would employ the right people who can contribute to football, not only in FAM but in all its affiliates.
He added that those who make the cut must be dedicated and passionate in wanting to improve football.
"We also have to improve the national team. We can't have the NFDP (National Football Development Programme) coming up and choose to neglect the national team and abandon the players while we wait for the NFDP to flourish in the future.
"You have to fix the problem at hand now. Remember 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing. So get a foreign coach for the national team now while we wait for our youth to develop and flourish in the future," he argued.
Third on the list for Tunku Ismail is to improve all Malaysian football competitions.
"When you improve competition, leagues become more competitive and this will indirectly make the national team perform better," he said.
Fourth, which the crown prince cited as the most important, is youth development and football infrastructure development.
"Education and the upbringing in football is very important. So I would urge all teams participating in the country to invest more in their youth development and upgrade football infrastructure.
"I can assist them to do this by giving 80 percent of their broadcasting rights to the teams participating in our tournaments.
"Whatever they make from their sponsorships is a bonus for them. Currently, FAM absorbs 100 percent of he broadcasting rights they received from Astro," he said.
'Prioritise local players over foreigners'
Tunku Ismail said he would also urge all teams participating in the country to spend wisely and priority should be given to local players.
"Today we see several teams struggling to pay their players because they prioritise the foreigners,” he pointed out.
Fifth, Tunku Ismail said, the referees should be under an independent body and not under FAM, to avoid conflict of interest.
"Sixth, I would also work hand in hand with the authorities such as MACC and the police to avoid corruption altogether, including football officials, players and referees around the country. It would be tough, but we have to do it," he added.
Despite outlining his plans, Tunku Ismail however stated he was not the right man for the job.
"I believe I made a statement before this that I wasn't interested in being president of FAM. If they would have me there, I hope they can change the constitution of FAM. You must understand the people there are elected members. Most of them are there for the wrong reasons and not there for football.
"How can I work like this? In Johor for instance, I have total control from the high ranks all the way to the bottom. In FAM, I may be sitting together at the same table with those I can't work with and I can't kick them out as they are all elected.
"The whole country knows that I am very direct. I prefer to be direct than diplomatic. I prefer the man who handles FAM to be impartial, neutral and do not display any favoritisms towards any teams participating in the country and obviously not corrupt.
"To my fellow Johoreans and the Malaysian people. Unlike some people, I am not suitable to be FAM president. It is because of one reason and one reason only. I love Johor, and I would always be biased should there be any issues associated with Johor.
"Therefore, because of this conflict of interest, I am not the right candidate to take over," he added.
Source : https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/311962#ixzz3lPpUCQC6
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