Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has expressed his eagerness to debate with the new Regent of Johor, Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim, on the issues of Malaysian football.
“I am looking forward to discussing the real issues of the country’s failure in football with Tunku Ismail, but I have not been contacted yet,” he said as quoted by Harian Metro.
“Nothing will stop me from proceeding with the debate, however, I am waiting on the date.
The Johor Darul Ta’azim (JDT) owner had enough of the cover-up of issues on local football and demanded that the parties involved sit down on live television to discuss the problems pertaining to big question. Tunku Ismail asked Khairy Jamaluddin as well as national team head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee, Football Coaches Association of Malaysia (FCAM) president B. Sathianathan, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and National Football Development Programme (NFDP) director Lim Teong Kim to join him in the debate.
WHAT DO WE THINK?
The people in Malaysia were thrilled when the recently appointed-Tunku Pemangku Raja Mahkota Johor (TPRMJ) challenged the big guns to a date on live television last Tuesday, mainly because they all know for a fact that Tunku Ismail will get things done if necessary. On top of that, we have Khairy Jamaluddin who was blamed by Tunku Ismail for not doing anything at all regarding the deterioration of Malaysian football. Things will definitely get heated up as they will be joined by B. Sathianathan and it is unclear whether Lim Teong Kim will participate as well. However, we all know that Ong Kim Swee and FAM agreed with the idea of debating, but just not on live television. They are right in a way because publicizing it in front of the entire country will just drive their egos even higher than it already is as it will not allow the chance for each individual to make mistakes and be constructively criticized.
The date needs to be set and this debate needs to happen for the better of local football.
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