Johan Ariffin Samad said there were “thousands” of stateless Malaysians across the country, including in Sabah, who deserve citizenship and whose plight is constantly highlighted by NGOs.

“But we give priority to sports to obtain fake glory rather than pay attention to human rights.

“Football is short-term and giving foreign players citizenship is a short-term and mercenary move,” he told FMT.

Although no official data exists, various reports estimate that Sabah is home to some 300,000 stateless individuals, including children. Meanwhile, Bernama reported last year that the number in Peninsular Malaysia ranges between 12,000 and 16,000.

Local leaders and civil society groups estimate that the number in Sarawak runs into the tens of thousands.

Johan accused the authorities of sweeping Sabah’s statelessness crisis under the carpet. “It is an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policy,” he said.

Last week, Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas, Malaysia (DHRRA), an NGO, urged the home ministry to apply the same administrative flexibility shown in the naturalisation of seven footballers to stateless children with Malaysian ties.

In a statement, DHRRA president Saravanan M Sinapan said there were clear indications that standard operating procedures (SOPs) were not strictly followed in the footballers’ naturalisation process.

Late last month, FIFA fined the Football Association of Malaysia 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.9 million) and handed the seven foreign players a 12-month suspension, along with individual fines of 2,000 Swiss francs (RM11,000).

It said its disciplinary committee found FAM guilty of breaching Article 22 of its code, which relates to the use of forged or falsified documents.