“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
- Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill
It has been suggested that the damage done by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) through the foreign players’ scandal must be forgotten.
Also to be over and done with is the disgraceful course of events that brought reputational loss to the government and the people of Malaysia.
FAM honorary president, Hamidin Amin, wants Malaysians to forget the damage inflicted by FAM and the disgraceful course of events that dragged the nation’s name and reputation through the mud - to be erased from memory.
He wants the sanctions and financial penalties imposed by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) to be overlooked, or perhaps scrubbed from the record altogether.
But history is not so easily forgotten or rewritten. Last October, Fifa’s investigations found that FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the eligibility of seven players, allowing them to compete in the third-round match of the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers, where Malaysia thrashed Vietnam 4–0.
The victory was built not on skill, but on deceit. FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million), while each player was fined 2,000 Swiss francs and suspended from football for 12 months.
Yet Hamidin (above) insists it is time to “move on.” “Anything that has been resolved and is now in the past should remain history,” he told Harian Metro after FAM’s extraordinary congress. “Let us forget it and look forward.”
Forget? Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s infamous phrase “Melayu mudah lupa” (Malays forget easily) has now been upgraded to “Malaysians forget easily” - thanks to Hamidin.
But forgetting is not an option when the Home Ministry has yet to explain the “instant citizenship” granted to the seven foreign players. FAM, meanwhile, remained in denial until the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected its final appeal against Fifa’s sanctions.
How can we forgive or forget the individuals - still unnamed - who engineered this fraud and, in the process, severely damaged Malaysia’s reputation?
As Fifa noted: “Using fraudulent documentation to allow a player to compete constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating. Such conduct erodes trust in the fairness of competitions and jeopardises the very essence of football as an activity founded on honesty and transparency.”
FAM’s culture of rot
FAM’s invitation to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to “clean its house” cannot be dismissed as a footnote in history. It must stand as a warning.
The AFC’s report card is damning: FAM’s administrative structure had not even been approved by its executive committee. Decision-making power was concentrated in the hands of a few, bypassing formal mandates. Malaysian football was run like a private fiefdom.
Critical functions depended on individuals rather than systems, creating risks to continuity. Institutional knowledge was hoarded by personalities, discouraging staff from reporting issues. Annual business plans, activity calendars, and performance reports - all absent.
Policies unapproved, KPIs missing, succession planning neglected. Most operational areas were rated at Level 2 (Pre-Intermediate), a polite way of saying “barely functional”.
So, in view of such contemptuous reports, should Malaysians simply forgive and forget?
To consign this scandal to the dustbin of “history” is not healing but deliberate blindness. Hamidin’s call to “move on” is less a rallying cry than a lullaby meant to soothe the guilty into silence. Yet silence is complicity.
The AFC audit revealed not just a forgery but a culture of rot - an organisation where accountability was bypassed, transparency ignored, and football reduced to a playground for the privileged few.
Scandal must not be forgotten
Churchill’s warning echoes with brutal clarity: those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. If Malaysians heed Hamidin’s advice, they will not move forward but stumble back into the same swamp of deceit, mismanagement, and disgrace.
Forgiveness without reform is folly; forgetting without accountability is betrayal. The Home Ministry’s evasions over “instant citizenship” and FAM’s denials only deepen the wound.
This scandal must remain etched in memory, not erased. It should be emblazoned in concrete as a permanent reminder that football is not merely about goals scored but about integrity upheld.
To forget is to invite repetition; to forgive without reform is to condone fraud. Malaysia cannot let “Malaysians forget easily” be a prophecy fulfilled.
The lesson is stark: football, like democracy, collapses when institutions are hollowed out, and trust is squandered. If FAM’s misdeeds are brushed aside, the next scandal will not be an irregularity but a certainty.
Only by confronting the disgrace, naming the culprits, and rebuilding with transparency can Malaysian football reclaim its dignity. Anything less is not progress - it is surrender. - FMT
R NADESWARAN began his career as a sports reporter, cutting his teeth on the drama of games and the grit of athletes. Though his journalistic journey has since taken him into governance, accountability, and public affairs, he continues to make occasional forays back into the sports arena - drawn not just by scandals, scores, and statistics, but by other human stories that inspire. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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