Recently, the General Secretary of the Asian Football Confederation - Datuk Seri Windsor Paul John said that the restructuring of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is a management support program, not a disciplinary measure.
Before starting, AFC worked with FIFA to agree on an approach, in which FIFA played a common monitoring role and direct guidance was assigned to AFC.
According to AFC leaders, the decisive factor lies in FAM's cooperative attitude. If the Malaysian Football Federation fully accepts the reform recommendations, the risk of being handled at the FIFA level will not exist. Change proposals are required to create substantive changes in operation, towards the common interests of the football background instead of serving any interest groups.
The simultaneous resignation of the entire FAM Executive Committee is seen as a paving step for the assessment process to take place independently and comprehensively. After this move, the AFC begins a review of the operating apparatus, expected to last at least 3 months before holding a new leadership election.
Professional work is undertaken by AFC Deputy Secretary General Vahid Kardany, along with independent consulting experts and the coordination of the FAM administrative department. This process includes researching governance profiles, interviewing key leaders and building a new operating framework for the federation.
The AFC Secretary-General also clarified that the concept of "suspension" is often misunderstood. In international football governance, this is a technical measure to create conditions for reconstruction when a federation cannot adjust itself. However, in the case of Malaysia, AFC and FIFA jointly chose a proactive reform plan to avoid interrupting international competition activities.
