Who’s kicking up a storm

Serious allegations set to take centrestage during FAM Congress today

PETALING JAYA: Some serious allegations have raised tension ahead of today’s Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) 60th Annual Congress meeting.

The premier footballing body in Malaysia have been rocked by allegations in a poison-pen letter, signed by UltrasFAM, sent via email to all the stakeholders, including Youth and Sports Minister and media yesterday.

The letter raised issues allegedly related to the leadership and management of FAM.

The four main allegations concern abuse of power by the FAM secretary-general, salaries and benefits of staff, issues involving the Harimau Malaya squad led by Kim Pan-gon, and the National Training Centre project.FAM president is Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin and the secretary-general is Datuk Noor Azman Rahman.

It claims that Malaysia lost to Oman 0-2 twice in a row in the World Cup 2026-Asian Cup 2027 second-round qualifiers because the national body did not fulfil some of the requests meted out by Pan-gon.

FAM executive committee member Christopher Raj was shocked.

“The allegations stated in the email are new to us.

“We are caught off guard by most of the things mentioned in it,” said Christopher, who is also the chairman of the Media, Communications and Public Relations committee and manages the Malaysian Under-16 squad.“I will leave it to the discretion of the president and secretary-general to answer these allegations, as they are the highest executives in the body.”

He hopes that the Congress could address the allegations.

“We’ve never discussed the salaries in FAM, including the president and secretary-general,” he said.

“I do hope that the Congress goes well. All the FAM affiliates can raise questions about these allegations. The exco will not stop them.

“I know Datuk Hamidin, has worked hard for the game here. The rumbles within the association, if there is, should be addressed, by the president and secretary-general

Meanwhile, in report by Bernama, FAM vice-president Datuk Seri Rosmadi Ismail defended the leadership and management of the governing body and found all the allegations to be completely untrue.

“For me, these accusations are untrue because every decision, whether big or small, is made in the executive committee meetings by consensus among us before it is implemented.

Rosmadi also confirmed that no decision was made unilaterally at FAM and he was satisfied with the system and workings of the governing body.

“I believe all members of the exco, including myself, have full confidence in the system implemented and stand behind the president (Hamidin) and all the committees mentioned in the allegations made,” he said.