PETALING JAYA: Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim has alleged that certain individuals within the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have long been unhappy with him because they were unable to profit through him.
"Some people within FAM have been dissatisfied with me for a long time because they cannot make money through me," he said on his social media pages.
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"Some came asking for my help to secure projects, while others asked for assistance to avoid being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), among other matters."
The Johor Regent also claimed that discontent voices grew when the Malaysian government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim channelled funding to the national team, as certain parties were unhappy about not being involved in managing the funds.
"Many were disappointed when the government provided funding for the national team because they were not involved," he said.
He said there were moves to sabotage him.
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Addressing a case involving FIFA, Tunku Ismail said the issue centred on alleged document forgery rather than citizenship eligibility.
"This is a case of forgery and document submission, not citizenship eligibility," he said.
"Who made the wrong submission? The agent - and who else within FAM? Why wasn’t a legitimate document from the National Registration Department (JPN) submitted? Because they wanted to protect ‘insiders’, the player was blamed."
He added that during proceedings at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), FIFA were unable to provide evidence linking the players to the alleged wrongdoing.
"During the CAS hearing, FIFA could not even answer when asked for evidence of the players’ involvement or complicity,” he said.
Tunku Ismail pointed out that a previous CAS rulings, which involved a female player admitted to forgery only received a 10-match international suspension while remaining eligible to play for her club.
"The insiders should be held responsible. Do not wash your hands of this and use supporters and the media to make me the scapegoat," he said.
Tunku Ismail also raised concerns over what he described as administrative interference involving the national team, Harimau Malaya.
He said the matter was also raised by national team head coach Peter Cklamovski.
"In the first week itself, he told me: ‘I can feel that some of these people don’t want us here,’" he said.
Tunku Ismail said he advised the coach to focus on his work and avoid getting drawn into internal politics.
