TWO emergency motions were submitted by lawmakers to debate the “citizenship status” of national footballers, along with the proposed visit by US President Donald Trump to Malaysia.
Kampar MP Chong Zhemin asked the Dewan Rakyat to urgently discuss the controversy over the alleged falsification of birth certificates of seven mixed-heritage players who are representing the Malaysian football team.
“It should be debated and decided in the Parliament what is the government’s immediate course of action, including providing a public explanation regarding the administrative, disciplinary, and legal measures taken against Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and any individuals involved in the alleged misconduct,” he said in the letter addressed to the Dewan Rakyat secretary Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin yesterday.
Chong also called for the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the causes of failure in the verification process and to determine whether there had been any forgery of official national documents.
He added that stricter guidelines and procedures should be set to verify documents related to the naturalisation of the athletes, including inspecting records at the country of origin before it is submitted to any international sports body.
“There should also be a comprehensive audit conducted on all ongoing athlete naturalisation cases to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations,” he said.
On Oct 6, FIFA presented evidence of forged documents used by the seven players in question, with the ruling casting serious doubts on FAM’s governance.
FIFA also highlighted significant inconsistencies between the original birth certificates obtained by FIFA and those submitted by FAM to support the players’ eligibility to represent Malaysia.
Another motion submitted yesterday called for debates on the invitation to Trump by Malaysia was filed by Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim.
“The motion, must be urgently raised, seeing the 47th Asean Summit will take place in Malaysia later this month.
“The Parliament’s decision is crucial to ensure Malaysia is not seen as recognising “a leader who supports Zionist oppression,” he said.
On Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin said Trump was invited to attend the Asean Summit through Malaysia’s position as Asean chair.
He said the chair has the responsibility of inviting Asean’s dialogue partners, stressing that the invite is also based on Asean’s principles of neutrality and centrality.
