PETALING JAYA: Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek has questioned the move by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to change the national team’s name from Harimau Malaya to Harimau Malaysia.
He said this was not necessary as the name came from the name of the tiger – “Harimau Malaya” or “Malayan Tiger”.
“Same with the Sumatran Tiger. It need not be changed to Indonesian Tiger simply because Sumatra is now a part of Indonesia,” Ahmad Shabery said in his Facebook post today.
FAM president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah had announced that the football body had decided on the name change with immediate effect as “Harimau Malaya” no longer reflected the current scenario with the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
The president hoped the name change would give an accurate description of the national squad, which could now be claimed by all Malaysians, including those in Sabah and Sarawak.