S Kunanlan, 29, made the announcement in a posting on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page this morning.
His Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) teammates, Safiq Rahim and Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak, quit the national team on Tuesday in a similar fashion, with their statements being released via the same Facebook page.
All three players were part of the Under-23 Harimau Muda squad which won the SEA Games Gold Medal in 2009. They were then included into the senior squad which was successful in capturing the AFF Suzuki Cup the following year.
In his statement, Kunanlan said his recent appearance in the Malaysian team’s friendly match against Fiji was his last.
“I have decided to retire from representing the national team and my most recent appearance with the national team in the friendly match against Fiji was my final appearance for the country.
“I was very proud to be able to wear the national jersey from my time representing the Under-23 team until recently. Thank you for all the support and guidance given to me all these years. I truly appreciate it,” he said, signing off with the slogan “Hidup Johor Demi Johor”.
The retirement of three senior national footballers, all playing for JDT has football pundits linking the action to the criticism of Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) by JDT owner Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim recently.
In a statement on the Johor Southern Tigers FB page late Monday night, Tunku Ismail, who is also the Tunku Mahkota Johor (TMJ) commented on the national team’s recent Oceania tour.
“According to the report that I’ve received from our players and fitness coach, the players only had 11-12 days of training throughout their 30 day tour with the national team.
“From June 19-28, they only had four days of training sessions compared with JDT that had conducted 19 sessions over the same period of time,” Tunku Ismail had alleged.
“That is the reason why they are injury prone. If the players’ injuries happen during games and they are roughed up, I can accept it. But if injuries are due to the lack of training, I cannot tolerate it.
“This happens because the national team does not maintain and follow the proper momentum and ‘high intensity’ fitness training that is necessary,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a statement released earlier by FAM, national squad coach Ong Kim Swee said he respected the decision of Safiq and Aidil.
“The two pillars of the Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) team must have thought about retiring for a long time before making the decision.
“For me, it’s a big loss. We must respect their decision as they must have discussed it with their families before making a decision,” he said.
He added the door is still open for them to return to the national team, but they will be reassessed based on their league performances.