Stating his frustration over the “cover-up and lies” by those who have failed to realise their responsibilities as the commandeers of the country’s football players, Tunku Ismail said he wanted a televised debate between himself, Khairy and a representative from FAM as well as football coaches.
“I urge Astro, to put Khairy, a representative from FAM, Ong Kim Swee, Lim Teong Kim, Sathia and myself on live television to talk about who’s responsible for the poor performance of our national team and Malaysian football and what courses of action to take.
“Also in this programme, they should allow the fans to voice out their opinions and ask any question they want. Let’s do it for our football fans.
“Their voices should be our priority because we serve them and they have the right to know the truth about what is the actual problem facing Malaysian football,” said the head of the state football team Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in a Facebook posting last night.
While acknowledging the quality of the national football team left much to be desired, Tunku Ismail however argued that when a soldier in the army was declared unfit to carry out his duties, it was his instructors who were ultimately held responsible for failing to put the right systems and training in place to begin with.
He said the same applied to football and that when national players performed dismally, it was the various football associations and their coaches who should be blamed for putting the wrong kind of systems in place and providing the wrong kind of training.
“I’m sick and tired of the lies and cover up. As the people’s prince, the people’s voices must be heard and their voices are my priority. The quality of footballers at the end of the day comes down to their upbringing and training.
“We should not come out with a statement blaming the players. On the contrary, we, the big people in football clubs, associations and coaches, should take responsibility and say that it’s our fault.
“I’m surprised that FAM and other affiliates are not interested in fixing the problem by having a meeting when we already know what the problem is,” he wrote.
This is not the first time Tunku Ismail has taken Khairy to task. Last weekend, the prince lashed out at the minister for claiming that local players lacked the quality needed to perform on the international stage.
Khairy’s statement came following the country’s all-time low Fifa ranking of 174 last week.
In February, Tunku Ismail dared FAM executive committee members to debate him on live television, a challenge that was taken up.