PETALING JAYA: Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim has revealed that the contents of the pen drive handed over to Khairy Jamaluddin is about technical misconduct in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
He said it includes favouritism, unprofessional coaches and exco-members not carrying out their respective duties.
In a Facebook post on the Johor Southern Tigers page Saturday, Tunku Ismail said he had given the pen drive to the Youth and Sports Minister to resolve the matter and not to punish or cause FAM’s suspension.
“I’m merely advising these individuals (in FAM) to step down voluntarily next year and be replaced with individuals who are more qualified to carry out the duties.
“I am an honest person. I am always truthful to all of you. And to change the FAM, we need to place people whom we can trust, which I will do very soon.
“I can oversee Malaysian football fairly. When the FAM has a professional management and professional referees, that’s when Johor will dominate Malaysian football,” he added.
Tuku Ismail claimed he knew who the new FAM president, secretary-general and national head coach would be next year.
“But do I need to share the info with football supporters? Have I ever been appreciated for improving the standards of local football? Only the people Johor appreciate it,” he said.
Tengku Ismail also criticised the national team for calling up players two weeks ahead of their match.
“Other national teams only call up their players four days before a match. Meanwhile, our national team needs two weeks but do not do any training.
“Players will then get injured when they resume training with their clubs because they are not fit enough. This affects all the plans of a club aiming to win trophies,” he said.
Tunku Ismail had earlier said that he was in the possession of a pen drive, given to him by high-ranking friends in Kuala Lumpur, containing evidence of corruption in FAM going back 30 years.
Following the pen drive expose, Khairy had met with FAM president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah to find ways to solve the problems plaguing the country’s main football body.
On Aug 26, Tunku Ismail granted Khairy an audience at Istana Bukit Pelangi, Johor Baru, where he handed him the pen drive.
On Friday, Khairy handed the pen drive along with hard copies of its contents, to MACC investigation director Datuk Azam Baki at its headquarters in Putrajaya.
Khairy had declined to say if there was proof of corruption as claimed, leaving it to the MACC to investigate.
“I am not saying there is or there isn’t corruption. Let MACC investigate and decide on that.
“But in the interest of transparency and public interest, as the public assumes it contains corruption, I have asked that the contents be made public after MACC completes its investigation,” said Khairy.
He also said there were “more or less” 279 pages of documents in the USB stick, which also included a technical report on Malaysian football.
The Star/ANN, Utusan Melayu Malaysia Berhad, Twitter
