00:00The irregular naturalization of seven footballers is symptomatic of the country's pursuit of fake glory,
00:07even at the expense of human rights, a Sabah activist lamented.
00:12Johan Arifin Samad said there were thousands of stateless Malaysians across the country,
00:17including in Sabah, who deserve citizenship and whose plight is constantly highlighted by NGOs.
00:23Although no official data exists, various reports estimate that Sabah is home to some 300,000 stateless individuals,
00:33including children, while the estimate in Sarawak runs into the tens of thousands.
00:39Recently, Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas Malaysia and NGO urged the Home Ministry
00:46to apply the same administrative flexibility shown in the naturalization of seven footballers
00:52to stateless children with Malaysian ties.
00:56Late last month, FIFA fined the Football Association of Malaysia 1.9 million ringgit
01:01and handed the seven foreign players a 12-month suspension along with individual fines of 11,000 ringgit
01:08for being guilty of breaching Article 22 of its code, which relates to the use of forged or falsified documents.
01:16Panyu Jo, FMT.
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