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19-07-2015, 05:10 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
World FIFA scrutinizing SG Govt’s meddling in FAS
Protected July 19th, 2015 | Author: Editorial
Former National Development Minister and FAS President Mah Bow Tan
Sports journalist Michael Ang who exposed the news on Yahoo! last year about Sports Hub senior director Greg Gillin moonlighting in India (‘Singapore Sports Hub pitch fiasco: The Untold Story‘) has recently revealed another news that the world’s football governing body FIFA is currently scrutinizing the Singapore government’s decades-long direct involvement in the affairs of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) (‘EXCLUSIVE: FAS under FIFA scrutiny‘).
In an email to Yahoo!, a FIFA spokesperson said the organisation wants to end “third-party influence in the FAS, even if that third party is a government ministry”.
Recently, Singapore’s Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong appointed the FAS president and other members of the FAS Council, which governs Singapore’s football.
Under the April 2015 edition of FIFA statutes, such third-party influence even if it’s from a country’s government is prohibited, revealed Mr Ang.
Article 17.1 states: “Each Member (i.e, the country’s football association) shall manage its affairs independently and with no influence from third parties”.
FIFA told Yahoo that “Office holders of FIFA Members shall be either elected or appointed within their Association. FIFA Members’ statutes shall provide for a procedure that guarantees the complete independence of the election or appointment from third parties, including Ministries.”
But under Article 19.3 of the FAS Constitution, it said:
“All Council Members shall be appointed by the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports in his discretion and shall, unless otherwise decided by the Minister, hold office for a period of two years”.
Furthermore, FAS Constitution also allows the Minister to extend the term of officeholders beyond the minimum two years.
Clearly, FAS’ Article 19.3 is in violation of FIFA’s Article 17.1. Since FAS is a member of the world body FIFA, it needs to follow FIFA’s constitution or risks being kicked out of FIFA.
But FAS tries to “tone down” its Article 19.3 by introducing Article 19.4:
“The appointments of the FAS Council members shall be confirmed by an absolute majority of Members present at the AGM, that is more than 50% of those present and are eligible to vote at the AGM”.
That is to say, after the council members are appointed by the Minister, they are then confirmed by a majority of FAS members including individuals from clubs, football leagues, referee groups, coach groups and so on.
But the question remains – who would dare to go against the Minister after he has appointed the members? So far, according to Mr Ang, no FAS member has voted against the choices of the Minister before.
Mr Ang noted, “The FAS appears to have tried to make its method of selecting office holders more palatable in the eyes of FIFA (with Article 19.4).”
Despite the presence of Article 19.4 in the FAS Constitution, FIFA insists that “any FIFA Member whose office holders are not elected or appointed within their Association, even on an interim basis, shall not be recognised by FIFA”.
By having the government directly involved in the appointment of its officeholders, the FAS is in danger of suffering the same fate as the Indonesian FA, which is currently under FIFA suspension for government meddling of Indonesian FA’s affairs.
FIFA aware of Singapore Govt’s meddling in FAS
Referring to Singapore, a FIFA spokesperson said, “In the case of Singapore FA, FIFA is aware of the matter and is working to ensure that the FIFA Statutes are respected in this regard.”
In a worst case scenario, FAS could be suspended by FIFA. This means that all national football activities will come to a halt. In this case the Singapore football team cannot participate in international FIFA games anymore.
In 1998, the then PM Goh Chok Tong, proudly set a national goal for Singapore football team to be in the final of 2010 World Cup. The very next year in 1999, Minister Mah Bow Tan was appointed as the president to carry out the promise. Incidentally, Singapore FIFA’s ranking dropped from no. 81 in 1998 to 104 in 1999, after Mah Bow Tan became the FAS president. Thereafter, Singapore’s ranking has never bettered 1998 position. Currently, Singapore is ranked 150 out of 209 FIFA associations.
Due to the Singapore government’s meddling, the FAS president post is usually held by a PAP politician:
1999 – 2004: Mah Bow Tan, then Cabinet Minister
2004 – 2009: Ho Peng Kee, then Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs
2009 – current: Zainudin Nordin, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
In any case, the meddling of Singapore’s government did not help FAS to achieve the 2010 World Cup goal. Thereafter, ESM Goh Chok Tong or PM Lee dares not mention about achieving World Cup goal again.
Was it surprising that FAS never reached its 2010 goal under these PAP politicians? How passionate do you think these million dollar politicians are with regard to our national football? Has our president scholar Mah Bow Tan whose exam results were better than opposition member Chiam See Tong ever kicked a ball before?
For the future and development of Singapore’s football, isn’t it time to let the real passionate football professionals to manage their own fraternity without the interference from these pseudo-professional politicians?
What do you think?
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/07/19...ddling-in-fas/ (http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/07/19/world-fifa-scrutinizing-sg-govts-meddling-in-fas/)
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?210773-Lawless-Wrong-get-farked-by-FIFA&goto=newpost).
World FIFA scrutinizing SG Govt’s meddling in FAS
Protected July 19th, 2015 | Author: Editorial
Former National Development Minister and FAS President Mah Bow Tan
Sports journalist Michael Ang who exposed the news on Yahoo! last year about Sports Hub senior director Greg Gillin moonlighting in India (‘Singapore Sports Hub pitch fiasco: The Untold Story‘) has recently revealed another news that the world’s football governing body FIFA is currently scrutinizing the Singapore government’s decades-long direct involvement in the affairs of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) (‘EXCLUSIVE: FAS under FIFA scrutiny‘).
In an email to Yahoo!, a FIFA spokesperson said the organisation wants to end “third-party influence in the FAS, even if that third party is a government ministry”.
Recently, Singapore’s Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong appointed the FAS president and other members of the FAS Council, which governs Singapore’s football.
Under the April 2015 edition of FIFA statutes, such third-party influence even if it’s from a country’s government is prohibited, revealed Mr Ang.
Article 17.1 states: “Each Member (i.e, the country’s football association) shall manage its affairs independently and with no influence from third parties”.
FIFA told Yahoo that “Office holders of FIFA Members shall be either elected or appointed within their Association. FIFA Members’ statutes shall provide for a procedure that guarantees the complete independence of the election or appointment from third parties, including Ministries.”
But under Article 19.3 of the FAS Constitution, it said:
“All Council Members shall be appointed by the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports in his discretion and shall, unless otherwise decided by the Minister, hold office for a period of two years”.
Furthermore, FAS Constitution also allows the Minister to extend the term of officeholders beyond the minimum two years.
Clearly, FAS’ Article 19.3 is in violation of FIFA’s Article 17.1. Since FAS is a member of the world body FIFA, it needs to follow FIFA’s constitution or risks being kicked out of FIFA.
But FAS tries to “tone down” its Article 19.3 by introducing Article 19.4:
“The appointments of the FAS Council members shall be confirmed by an absolute majority of Members present at the AGM, that is more than 50% of those present and are eligible to vote at the AGM”.
That is to say, after the council members are appointed by the Minister, they are then confirmed by a majority of FAS members including individuals from clubs, football leagues, referee groups, coach groups and so on.
But the question remains – who would dare to go against the Minister after he has appointed the members? So far, according to Mr Ang, no FAS member has voted against the choices of the Minister before.
Mr Ang noted, “The FAS appears to have tried to make its method of selecting office holders more palatable in the eyes of FIFA (with Article 19.4).”
Despite the presence of Article 19.4 in the FAS Constitution, FIFA insists that “any FIFA Member whose office holders are not elected or appointed within their Association, even on an interim basis, shall not be recognised by FIFA”.
By having the government directly involved in the appointment of its officeholders, the FAS is in danger of suffering the same fate as the Indonesian FA, which is currently under FIFA suspension for government meddling of Indonesian FA’s affairs.
FIFA aware of Singapore Govt’s meddling in FAS
Referring to Singapore, a FIFA spokesperson said, “In the case of Singapore FA, FIFA is aware of the matter and is working to ensure that the FIFA Statutes are respected in this regard.”
In a worst case scenario, FAS could be suspended by FIFA. This means that all national football activities will come to a halt. In this case the Singapore football team cannot participate in international FIFA games anymore.
In 1998, the then PM Goh Chok Tong, proudly set a national goal for Singapore football team to be in the final of 2010 World Cup. The very next year in 1999, Minister Mah Bow Tan was appointed as the president to carry out the promise. Incidentally, Singapore FIFA’s ranking dropped from no. 81 in 1998 to 104 in 1999, after Mah Bow Tan became the FAS president. Thereafter, Singapore’s ranking has never bettered 1998 position. Currently, Singapore is ranked 150 out of 209 FIFA associations.
Due to the Singapore government’s meddling, the FAS president post is usually held by a PAP politician:
1999 – 2004: Mah Bow Tan, then Cabinet Minister
2004 – 2009: Ho Peng Kee, then Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs
2009 – current: Zainudin Nordin, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
In any case, the meddling of Singapore’s government did not help FAS to achieve the 2010 World Cup goal. Thereafter, ESM Goh Chok Tong or PM Lee dares not mention about achieving World Cup goal again.
Was it surprising that FAS never reached its 2010 goal under these PAP politicians? How passionate do you think these million dollar politicians are with regard to our national football? Has our president scholar Mah Bow Tan whose exam results were better than opposition member Chiam See Tong ever kicked a ball before?
For the future and development of Singapore’s football, isn’t it time to let the real passionate football professionals to manage their own fraternity without the interference from these pseudo-professional politicians?
What do you think?
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/07/19...ddling-in-fas/ (http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/07/19/world-fifa-scrutinizing-sg-govts-meddling-in-fas/)
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?210773-Lawless-Wrong-get-farked-by-FIFA&goto=newpost).