'FI-FA-Fo-FAM, who is that powerful person?' Mahathir fuels debate as government faces outrage over citizenship scandal

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'

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.