KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — A coalition of NGOs have come together to organise a football tournament with former legendary national players, namely Datuk Shukor Salleh, Datuk Santokh Singh and Datuk Soh Chin Aun, to promote racial unity among Malaysians.

Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM), organiser of The Harmony Football Cup, said it got the idea for the competition from the 2015 local movie, Ola Bola which showed the peak of national unity through the sport in the 1980s.

"It is to foster, strengthen and magnify the spirit of national unity especially among the youth. Football will be good catalyst to bring all races together in a harmonious atmosphere to play together, stay together and love together

"It is to cement the bridges we hope to build among the youth and races. We have to break the racial polarisation, racial divide and religious divide among all here," the tournament's organising chairman Dr Badlishah Sham Baharin said during a press conference today.

GBM comprises of several NGOs including Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (Ikram), Tamil Foundation (TF), Malaysian Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) and Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) among others.

The tournament is to be a two-day event held on March 18 and 19 at INTI University, Nilai. The grand finals will be held at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s (USIM) main stadium.

Among other patrons besides Santokh for the tournament are former footballers Datuk Soh Chin Aun and Datuk Shukor Salleh.

Santokh said today the tournament was reminiscent of the competitions held when he was younger during the 1970s, which helped unite different races through sport.

"This is a fantastic because in those days when I used to play football we used to have such cups which helped people mingle.

"It is the old Malaysian style of getting together and being Muhibbah," he said referring to the Malay word for togetherness.

With an emphasis on racial harmony, the tournament requires each participating team to have players from at least three ethnic groups of Malaysia and no more than six players should come from one single ethnic group’ from the ages of 18 to 35.

Dr Badlishah also said football teams from various states like Kedah, Perak, Penang, Johor, Selangor, Melaka and Negri Sembilan have already agreed to participate in the tournament.

"There are players from all walks of life. It is a good mix of people. There are Malays, Chinese and Indians that came together to play together," he said.

GBM chairman Zaid Kamaruddin meanwhile said the coalition organised the football competition to help promote unity among different races in the country.