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No News Is Bad News
What is Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim so proud of? Proud of Malaysians or foreigners?
Dr M: Who is the powerful figure in granting citizenship approval?
Hannah Yeoh please resign, UG take action against FAM
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12, 2025: Former racist prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Dr M) has alleged that an individual who “operates above the law” is involved in the citizenship scandal for foreign when commenting the citizenship scandal involving FAM’s football team of foreigners.
“A powerful" figure is behind the express approval of citizenship for the seven foreigners. Innocent people might be targeted by authorities while the real culprit who operates above the law may be let off.
“So somebody is so powerful that they can actually do wrong things and get away with it. Or at least that's what the Vietnamese have pointed out,” Dr M told local Bahansa Malaysia daily Sinar Harian in a recent podcast.
And, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) that has been fighting for the rights of thousands of youths deserving Malaysian citizenship has slammed DAP’s Hannah Yeoh for praising Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution, who is currently at the centre of a citizenship scandal that has attracted global headlines.
Hannah Yeoh ... a shameless and disgraceful DAP lawmaker who cares not for the statelessness
What business has the DAP lawmaker, who is also the youth and sports minister, to defend Saifuddin amid public outrage over the express approval of Malaysian citizenship for seven Harimau Malaya players, which football governing body FIFA has since established as fraudulent after it was found that forged documents were used in their naturalisation.
Do the DAP and Yeoh know what taking responsibility and accountability are about?
Yeoh and FAM ave brought international shames to the rakyat dan negara (people and country). Please resign immediately Yeoh for your “super” shameful and poor management of sports, in particular FAM.
And the so-called Madani Unity Government (UG), please do the right thing and take action against FAM!
Malaysia's national football team or is it a "United Nation's Team"?
No News Is Bad News reproduces below two news reports on the shame Yeoh and FAM have brought to Malaysia:
News
'FI-FA-Fo-FAM, who is that powerful person?' Mahathir fuels debate as government faces outrage over citizenship scandal
A prominent lawyer meanwhile schools the home minister after the latter cites 'ministerial discretion'.
October 11, 2025 11:20 AM
Dr Mahathir Mohamad points to an individual he claims 'operates above the law' when commenting the citizenship scandal involving the national football team.
Public attention on Malaysia's biggest citizenship scandal in recent decades has shifted from the country's national football to a claim by Dr Mahathir Mohamad that a "powerful" figure was behind the express approval of citizenship for seven foreigners.
Mahathir warned that innocent people might be targeted by authorities while the real culprit, whom he said "operates above the law", may be let off.
"So somebody is so powerful that they can actually do wrong things and get away with it. Or at least that's what the Vietnamese have pointed out," the former prime minister told local daily Sinar Harian in a recent podcast.
The remark instantly drew a barrage of comments on social media, many pointing out the former leader's past public spats with prominent figures.
"Every single person in Malaysia knows who is at fault, yet not one dares to say his name, and this is not the first time he’ll get away with a crime," said X user Firdaus Abd Hanan.
This comes as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government grapples with the biggest scandal since coming to power, which has made international headlines, with ministers and multiple agencies struggling to convince a sceptical public that laws were not violated in granting express citizenship to seven players so they could be fielded against Vietnam for the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers four months ago.
"Sensationally damning," screamed a headline by Britain's The Guardian.
"It certainly does not do any favours for a country that has for a long time been known more in football terms for match-fixing and betting syndicates than anything on the pitch," the paper said.
On Oct 6, football governing body FIFA revealed evidence that forged documents were used in naturalising the seven players as Malaysian citizens, following outrage from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) over fines imposed on it as well as a ban on the players two weeks earlier.
Leading the charge against FIFA's decision was Johor regent and former FAM president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who hinted at outside pressure in the decision.
"What led to such a decision? Was there any external party that influenced FIFA’s decision?" asked Tunku Ismail, better known as TMJ.
This was quickly followed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) stating it has no jurisdiction on the matter, a response that came at a time when the anti-graft agency was heavily criticised for its overreaching jurisdiction and selective prosecution.
On Oct 7, Malaysians woke up to news about FIFA's findings released a day earlier, including images and details showing Malaysia submitted forged copies of players' birth certificates to support their eligibility to represent Malaysia.
The FIFA report also made the shocking revelation that the National Registration Department (JPN) never received the original birth certificates, which FIFA has since found.
"Instead, the NRD issued its own copies based on secondary information and foreign documents from Argentina, Brazil, and Spain," said deputy chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee Jorge Palacio.
Faced with widespread condemnation, FAM then cited "technical error" when it submitted the documents to FIFA, claiming a staff member had mistakenly uploaded the wrong documents from a player agent instead of official JPN records.
'The jackpot question'
Rafique Rashid.
As the issue steadily morphed into an international scandal, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution sought to calm the growing anger, with little success.
On Thursday, Saifuddin, who has wide jurisdiction over JPN, gave a lengthy explanation in Parliament, while also appearing to take indirect responsibility by saying he used his constitutional power to approve the citizenship.
Prominent lawyer Rafique Rashid, however, said that while he acknowledged Saifuddin's discretionary powers in matters of citizenship, the real question is how JPN relied on a set of documents now proven to be forged.
"The jackpot question that remains unanswered: Who instructed the forgery? FIFA used live bullets, not chalk rounds," he said.
He questioned what actions were taken by JPN to verify the documents in the absence of their original copies, adding that in contrast, FIFA was able to "search and find the original birth certificates of these players' grandparents".
"How is it that JPN officers were so bold as to verify documents without seeing the originals? How is it that officers of the agency, and later FAM, were so bold as to process the documentation without seeing the originals?" he asked, adding that the power of discretion must still have some legal and constitutional justification.
"Every consideration must be based on the law, regardless of who it is, whether someone ordinary or born into privilege, whether he plays football well or cannot kick a ball," said Rafique, adding that by failing to rely on the law, any foreigner could become a citizen.
Rafique reminded that under normal circumstances, it would take years to process citizenship applications, a view previously shared by lawyers and rights activists who have been angered by the fact that tens of thousands of stateless adults born in the country are denied normal lives due to the government's failure to confer citizenship status despite fulfilling the requirements.
He also challenged Saifuddin to state whether the Malay language fluency of the applicants had been tested. Under Article 19, an applicant must have resided in the country for at least 10 of the last 12 years and have adequate knowledge of the national language, conditions which Saifuddin said were fulfilled by the players.
News
Lawyers slam Hannah Yeoh's 'tone-deaf' praise for Saifuddin amid outrage over citizenship scandal
The sports minister's statement is shocking, coming at a time when 'double standards and hypocrisy are clear for all to see', says Lawyers for Liberty.
October 12, 2025 9:57 AM
Hannah Yeoh.
A prominent lawyers' group that has been fighting for the rights of thousands of youths deserving Malaysian citizenship has slammed Hannah Yeoh, calling the DAP leader "tone-deaf" for praising Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution, who is currently at the centre of a citizenship scandal that has attracted global headlines.
Yeoh recently defended Saifuddin amid public outrage over the express approval of Malaysian citizenship for seven Harimau Malaya players, which football governing body FIFA has since established as fraudulent after it was found that forged documents were used in their naturalisation.
"To my knowledge, no home minister has shown the same level of compassion and efficiency as Saifuddin Nasution," said Yeoh, the youth and sports minister, after her 2022 social media post resurfaced in which she questioned the easy approval of citizenship for footballers while thousands struggled with statelessness.
Zaid Malek.
But Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) reminded that under Saifuddin, the government had attempted to pass "the most regressive" constitutional amendments that would have worsened the problem of statelessness, adding that new cases of statelessness were being created.
"The only 'compassion' and 'efficiency', as claimed by Hannah, that the public can see from Saifuddin seems to be reserved for the seven football players," said LFL director Zaid Malek.
He said the timing of Yeoh's statement was "shocking and embarrassing", adding that "double standards and hypocrisy are clear for all to see".
"This tone-deaf statement by the minister does nothing to assuage public discontent and anger against the government over the grant of citizenship to the seven football players with heritage claims that were found by FIFA to be false," said Zaid.
On Oct 6, FIFA revealed evidence that forged documents were used in naturalising the seven players as Malaysian citizens, following outrage from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) over fines imposed on it as well as a ban on the players two weeks earlier.
FIFA also made the shocking revelation that the National Registration Department (JPN) never received the original birth certificates, which FIFA has since found.
"Instead, the NRD issued its own copies based on secondary information and foreign documents from Argentina, Brazil, and Spain," said deputy chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee Jorge Palacio.
The issue has quickly spiralled into one of the biggest scandals facing Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government since he took power following a hung parliament in the 2022 elections.
Zaid meanwhile took Hannah to task for her claim that Saifuddin had cleared 49,000 backlog citizenship applications.
"However, she stopped short of saying how many qualified stateless persons still remain without citizenship. The number of backlog applications cleared does not reflect the large numbers of desperate people out there who remain stateless, including thousands of school-going children."
He said authorities have so far ignored landmark judgments of former chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, including a directive that NRD abide by the constitution by not demanding additional requirements from stateless persons who are eligible to become citizens by operation of law.
"It is important to remember that many of those who became stateless did so due to the failure of the NRD and the home ministry to recognise their Malaysian citizenship under the constitution. In other words, citing the number of cleared backlogs is meaningless," Zaid added.
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