He also challenged his detractors to a “face-to-face” debate to settle the matter once and for all.
Tunku Ismail, a vocal critic of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), issued the challenge to those he claimed countered his perspective on the management of the country’s football industry.
In a Facebook post on the Johor Southern Tigers page, Tunku Ismail said the mentality of his critics, apart from the prevalence of corruption, was the reason Malaysian football has regressed.
He also accused them of focussing on “petty things” rather than the “bigger picture” with the intention of moving forward.
“When I spoke about corruption and the lack of passion by a few football organisations, such as the football governing body and state FAs (football associations), you all keep quiet. Only a couple of months later you make noise,” Tunku Ismail said.
Aside from criticising the FAM and his detractors, Tunku Ismail, popularly known as TMJ, also expressed his disappointment with the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), describing it as “FAM’s puppet”.
Tunku Ismail also touched on the issue of unpaid salaries, and urged the teams involved to “settle this issue once and for all.”
He was commenting on the revelation by the Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia (PFAM) that three teams– namely the Armed Forces, Kelantan and Felda United– owed 21 of their former players RM4.39 million in wages.