Yellow card for FAM

MEMBERS of Parliament criticised the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for the sport’s poor state of affairs.

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wee Jeck Seng had just started his winding-up speech on his ministry when Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) stood up and chided the FAM for failing to raise the standard of Malaysian football.

Bung Mokhtar said the FAM leadership should undergo a major revamp to return Malaysian football to its former glory.

“We have been beaten by a country which can’t even feed its citizens,” he claimed.

Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) went a step further and demanded that everyone in FAM be sacked.

When Wee said the Government could not simply interfere in the main football governing body whenever a problem occurs, Bung Mokhtar interjected and said that no improvement was forthcoming even after decades of discussions.

“No sponsors are giving money because of the poor standard of Malaysian football.

“AirAsia sponsored Manchester United because they have good players,” he added.

Wee said the ministry was serious about improving local football and recommendations would be brought up to the ministry for action.

The MPs also criticised the lack of good leadership in youth associations.

Azan Ismail (PKR-Indera Mahkota) said the standard of youth associations had gone down because they continued to be led by elderly people.

“The older leaders should step down and let youths become the leaders because they know the interests of their generation.

“Some people want to become association leaders for their own reasons and this will not help to attract new members,” he added.

Datuk Ismail Abd Muttalib (BN-Maran) said senior leaders usually had the leadership and financial capacity to make their associations stronger.

However, he agreed that they should resign if they could not perform.

Wee said the ministry would formulate more new programmes to help attract youths based on feedback from MPs and others.