Anifah in, KJ out

A former vice-president of FA of Malaysia who bragged that he was already a millionaire at the age of 25 and once banned Malay Mail's Tony Mariadass from covering a crucial match in Kota Kinabalu is now the Foreign Minister. A current deputy president of FAM meanwhile was excluded from the Cabinet.

There was this friendly between the national training squad and Sabah prior to the opening pre-World Cup encounter against Hong Kong in 2004.

The millionaire threw himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons...FAM technical director, Karl Weigang, spoke to the referee and suggested the match be abandoned due to the state of the pitch at Petaling Jaya Stadium.

In his capacity as the FA of Sabah head honcho, this millionaire then intervened, insisting Weigang should not have interfered in the referee's decision. Perhaps it did not occur to the millionaire from Sabah that the match was turning out to be a pointless one at that stage as the risk of injury was heightened.

The referee decided to finish the match. That is the difference between someone who knows about the game and someone who is trying to show everybody he knows something about the game.

Weigang was thinking of the greater picture. Unfortunately the millionaire was thinking within the Sabah's box, without justification. Can we expect this kind of character to carry the Malaysian name in the diplomatic circles? Perhaps he has mellowed down. Perhaps he has discovered the true meaning of diplomacy. But give me Rais Yatim anytime. Or even Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen, a former FAM deputy president.