00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 The Football Association of Malaysia's policy of naturalizing foreign players for the national team
00:09 has come under scrutiny from former national players.
00:12 Lim Fong Ki, James Wong and Cee Naderajan said,
00:17 FAM should focus on developing local talent rather than relying on naturalized players.
00:22 Lim said there were no outstanding players among recently naturalized players
00:28 and questioned the absence of grassroots players and coaches
00:31 to improve Malaysia's standard of football.
00:34 Lim said the government should get the right people to develop Malaysian football
00:38 as the country had fallen far behind the likes of Japan and South Korea.
00:42 Wong said he does not consider the current national team as being Malaysian enough,
00:48 saying he disagreed with granting citizenship to players for the sake of football.
00:53 Meanwhile, Naderajan said he felt it was unfair that footballers were given citizenship
00:58 when many others born in the country still do not have citizenship.
01:02 He said there was a need to review the policy of naturalizing players
01:07 and at the same time bring Malaysian players up to par with foreign players.
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