Holiday Ayo - The Malaysian government is urged not to interfere in the dispute between the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and FIFA. Government intervention could have fatal consequences.

FIFA has imposed sanctions on FAM for the document manipulation scandal involving seven naturalized Malaysian players.

FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss Francs (IDR 7.3 billion), while all seven players were suspended for 12 months.

FAM has filed an appeal with FIFA, but it was rejected. FAM is now seeking to overturn the sanctions at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has also highlighted FAM's problems. AFC Secretary General Datuk Seri Windsor Paul John warned the Malaysian government not to interfere with FAM.

Although FAM is currently facing a crisis due to FIFA sanctions, the Malaysian government cannot issue directives to pressure FAM officials.

Windsor stated that the government's role in football is to support development, not to manage or dictate the administration of the federation.

"Even though FAM is in crisis, the ministry or its ministers cannot order FAM officials to resign. They cannot do so because they are elected by the member associations," Windsor said, as reported by the News Strait Times.

"When making statements, you must be careful not to violate FAM's independence," he added.

"The government must not interfere, must not give any instructions, must not influence," he stressed.

As is known, FIFA regulates the sovereignty of each country's football federation to manage its organization without interference from third parties, including the government.

This is stated in Articles 13 and 17 of the FIFA Regulations.

Indonesia once faced severe sanctions from FIFA after government intervention in the internal affairs of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) in 2015.

FIFA suspended the PSSI, preventing Indonesia from participating in international tournaments for some time.