KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has sent a letter of protest to the Asean Football Federation (AFF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) over insults by Indonesian supporters against Malaysia during an AFF Under-16 (U-16) championship match yesterday.
Chants of “Malaysia are dogs” were heard in the match between Malaysia and Thailand at the Joko Samudro Stadium in Surabaya, Indonesia which ended with 1-2 defeat for the Raja Azlan Shah Raja So’ib’s squad.
In a statement today, FAM secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam described Indonesian supporters as having gone overboard adding that such action was shameful to Malaysia.
“The action of sending in the letter of protest to AFF and AFC was swiftly undertaken so that both parties concerned can take the necessary action in making sure the same thing will not happen during the national U-16 squad’s next Group B match against Brunei at the same stadium on Friday,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said FAM would send its Exco member ACP Md Dali Wahid to Surabaya tomorrow to evaluate the safety measures taken by the organisers.
“If it is found that the host nation and organisers are taking this issue lightly, FAM will not hesitate to take more drastic actions,” he added.
He also hoped that AFF and AFC would take the matter seriously, citing that Malaysia was fined US$30,000 (RM121,702) after Malaysian fans sang defamatory chants towards Brunei and Singapore during the men’s football matches at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. — Bernama
