Malaysian citizenship for Harimau Malaya heritage players followed the book, home minister says up to Fifa, FAM to resolve dispute

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today confirmed that the Malaysian citizenship granted to seven members of national squad Harimau Malaya was in full accordance with the law.

He said any inconsistency that has been raised by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) should be resolved by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

“So let me explain again, there were 23 football players who applied for citizenship, including the seven latest players.

“We referred to Article 19 of the Federal Constitution, Citizenship Rules 1964 and they applied on their own.

“The process is very clear, they came, we took their biometric and interviewed them and hence they got their citizenship,” Saifuddin Nasution said in the Dewan Rakyat.

In response to how the players were granted Malaysian citizenship, Saifuddin Nasution stressed that the naturalisation process is thorough and must meet three key constitutional requirements — the applicant must apply personally (without agents), must have resided in Malaysia for a qualifying period, and must demonstrate good conduct and sufficient command of Bahasa Melayu.

“All applicants must submit necessary documents such as passport and fill in the relevant Form C as required by the Citizenship Rules 1964.

“Once all conditions are met, the application is processed accordingly,” he said.

Addressing the controversy surrounding Fifa’s disciplinary action against the seven Harimau Malaya heritage players, Saifuddin Nasution said the issue of player eligibility is a football regulatory matter, governed by Fifa’s statutes.

“Fifa’s statutes state that a player can represent a country if either of four conditions is fulfilled — either the player was born in the country, one of the parents or grandparents was born there, or the player has lived continuously in the country for at least five years.

“That’s a matter between FAM and Fifa. From our side, all citizenship procedures were done according to the law and the Constitution,” he said, noting that the issue is currently being handled through FAM’s appeal process with Fifa.

In a press conference held later, Saifuddin Nasution also clarified that the Home Ministry’s National Registration Department (JPN) issued all relevant birth certificates under Section 10A of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957, which allows the Registrar-General to issue a birth certificate if satisfied with the evidence presented.

“Under Section 10A, the Registrar-General, if satisfied with documents and evidence submitted, under 10A no matter the provision of this section, the Registrar-General can grant a birth certificate and there is no provision that requires documentation of grandparents.

“This only became an issue when Fifa said they need to fulfil any one of their four statues. So when Fifa mentioned falsified documents, they were not referring to us (our documents).

“The only official document we issued was the birth certificate, which is valid and lawful under Section 10A,” he said.

Last month, FAM and seven heritage players were sanctioned by Fifa’s Disciplinary Committee after being found guilty of violating Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code related to documentary forgery.

In a statement reported by Bernama, Fifa said FAM had submitted forged documents to verify the eligibility of players, allowing them to be fielded in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers against Vietnam on June 10.

The seven heritage players penalised were Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel.

As a result, FAM was fined CHF350,000 (RM1.8 million), while each player was fined CHF2,000 (RM10,560) and suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities effective from the date of the decision’s notification.

Click here to read article