The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said that the match official, Zulkarnain Zakaria, was found to have awarded two controversial penalties to the home team in the match that was played at Stadium Likas, Kota Kinabalu.

The penalties were awarded in the 41st minute and nine minutes into injury time (99th minute). The match ended 5-2 in Sabah’s favour.

According to FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman, aside from the two penalties, there were other questionable decisions by the referee.

“The FAM referees assessment committee headed by S Sivasundaram met last night to study the match official’s report and recordings of the controversial decisions involved.

“The committee decided unanimously that Zulkarnain Zakaria was wrong in his decision to award Sabah the two penalties,” he said in a statement.

He added that the referees committee then decided to suspend Zulkarnain from officiating any MSL match for the rest of the 2023 season.

“We will not hesitate to take stern action against any referee who performs below the standards set by FAM,” Noor Azman said.

He added that the referees committee also issued a warning to all referees that they should officiate matches with a full understanding of the game.