Interview with the Sports Minister

Here are parts of the interview between the News Straits Times and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said. We reproduce here what was said with regards to FAM and football in this country.

"If I had my way, many decisions about athletes will be different, but as you know, government interference is not allowed in national associations. We don’t have 100 per cent say.

In the case of FAM (Football Association of Malaysia), there has been a public outcry and the Cabinet is also very disappointed but if FAM does not want to change, then nothing in the world can change FAM, because we are not part of FAM.

Q: What should FAM do to revive football, and do you think they can do it?

A: The disappointment with football is there was no urgency and spirit in the players (in the Asian Cup).

People are asking what is wrong with them. They were representing Malaysia They should have played with more pride. The Indonesian media praised their team despite losing, because there was fighting spirit. With the funding and support that the government is giving, this shouldn’t be the case.

But I bet you FAM will have 1,000 reasons why they failed, and what really makes the public very disappointed is that no one is feeling guilty about losing, and that is what really hurts.

The public outcry shows that the public is really disgusted with football.

If you look at badminton and squash, they go down and they come up again. They win today, they lose tomorrow, but unfortunately football loses consistently.

But because of Fifa regulations, we can only support but can’t intervene and everyone says maybe football must be taken over 100 per cent by the government, maybe football should be run by strong personalities, good managers.

It’s all up to FAM. We are calling them for the Cabinet Committee meeting on July 31. We are trying to see how we can help them.

I don’t want to be in a position that the eight-core sports programme has to drop football.

Q: Millions are being spent by the government. How long do you see this continuing?

A: If the rating system is accepted well, and if associations and the public understand that, I think the whole idea of subsidising associations will see a new phase in Malaysian sports and that is what we are hoping for.

Right now if you pull anything, it’s World War Three, but if you make them understand, when there is KPI (Key Performance Indicator), then I have achieved the objective. I would like see that in future, we only communicate with those who are high up in results."