Clear as day, FAM at fault in forgery case, says MP

2026-03-06 - 03:14

PKR’s Wong Chen said Malaysia’s national pride has been dragged through the mud due to the Harimau Malaya forgery case. PETALING JAYA: PKR’s Wong Chen has called for enforcement action following the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) findings on the forgery case involving the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). Referring to the CAS’s press statement yesterday, Wong Chen said its findings clearly stated that FAM had approached the players about being naturalised as Malaysians and playing for Harimau Malaysia. FAM also accepted “institutional shortcomings” in the matter and did not deny potentially bearing responsibility for violating the Fifa Disciplinary Code, which led to the Fifa sanctions. “The last paragraph of the statement is very important. The CAS found that the players did not alter the documents in applying for citizenship. “At the same time, FAM admitted to ‘institutional shortcomings’. Therefore, it is clear as day that the documents were falsified and altered by someone in FAM, not by the players,” he said in a Facebook post. The Subang MP also questioned the purported lack of action by the government and asked why the cops had not arrested anyone despite launching an investigation more than two months ago. “Our national pride has been dragged through the mud, and whether by coincidence or not, the reporter who broke the story was also beaten up in public. “This kind of lawlessness must be stopped,” said Wong Cheng. Yesterday, the CAS partially upheld an appeal filed by the seven naturalised Harimau Malaya players implicated in the case, reducing their ban from “all football-related activities” to official matches. However, it dismissed FAM’s appeal against the fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million) imposed by Fifa for submitting falsified documents for the players, ruling that it was justified and proportionate. The CAS upheld Fifa’s findings that the documents were falsified but also that the players had not acted negligently or with intent. An independent committee in Malaysia investigated the case and said that it could not conclusively determine who falsified the documents. The police also opened their own investigation into the alleged forgery of documents. Last month, Bukit Aman said eight people had given their statements. The controversy led to the resignation of the entire FAM executive committee, in an attempt to avert a Fifa suspension.