The latest “masterstroke” from the corridors of power at Wisma FAM is truly a sight to behold. The entire Executive Committee is reportedly planning to resign en masse, claiming this is a grand gesture to show FIFA they are “committed to reform.” It’s the ultimate tactical retreat; the footballing equivalent of a bank robber handing back the empty bags and offering to help sweep the floor so the police don’t bother looking at the CCTV. They honestly believe that by holding a fresh election and shuffling the same deck of cards, FIFA will pat them on the back and say, “Carry on.”

But here is the cold, hard reality that the Exco seems to be ignoring: FIFA has moved far beyond its usual routine of handing out slaps on the wrist for gross negligence. Normally, FIFA would just send a sternly worded letter, a condescending nod, and a fine that FAM would pay with a shrug of their collective shoulders. Not this time. FIFA is now operating on the belief that this isn’t just a “technical glitch,” or a bit of lazy paperwork—it’s a crime. When you start talking about forged documents, you aren’t in the realm of bad management anymore; you’ve crossed the border into the territory of the penal code.

Talks of a Normalisation Committee is a signal that they are no longer interested in FAM’s self-prescribed “reforms.” They aren’t just sending in people to fix the “culture”; they are sending in a forensic team. Think of them as investigators armed with a very large magnifying glass, tasked with performing a full-scale autopsy of the entire administration. Their primary function isn’t just to write a shiny new rulebook or suggest a better filing system; it’s to find out exactly whose hands were on the keyboard, whose signatures were “borrowed,” and whose ink is on the forgeries.

This mass resignation is a classic piece of Malaysian football theatre—provocative, dramatic, and utterly useless. It’s a desperate attempt to avoid the incoming “Normalisation”. The Exco seems to think they can satisfy FIFA by simply vacating their seats and acting as if they’ve done the world a massive favour. But a forensic audit doesn’t care if the leather chair is currently empty—it cares about the digital fingerprints left on the hard drive. FIFA is many things, but they aren’t stupid. They know that a “paved way for re-election” in the current climate is just a fancy way of saying the same old guard will return under different titles, or perhaps wearing very convincing fake moustaches and spectacles.

The sheer audacity of the move suggests that FAM thinks FIFA is still playing by the old rules, where a bit of “sovereignty” talk could scare off the international body. Those days are gone. FIFA’s sudden interest in criminal investigation suggests they have seen something in the books that doesn’t just look like bad math, but like deliberate, calculated fraud. This isn’t just a local spat; FIFA is reportedly pushing for criminal probes across five countries. The Normalisation Committee is coming, and it isn’t coming to discuss “long-term development goals” over tea and biscuits. It’s coming to peel back the expensive wallpaper at Wisma FAM and see how much of the structure is actually held together by rot and deception.

When a Normalisation Committee arrives, it doesn’t just ask for the keys; it changes the locks and starts digging through the hard drives. Here is how they typically dismantle a failing regime:

• Eviction and Erasure: Every single member of the current Exco is removed. They aren’t just “resigning”—they are barred from the building. FIFA then runs extensive “eligibility checks” (essentially integrity colonoscopies) on every potential replacement.
• The Forensic Audit: Unlike a standard financial check, this focuses on “extraordinary irregularities.” They will trace the origin of every falsified document back to the specific terminal it was created on.
• Statute Overhaul: They don’t just tweak the rules; they rewrite the constitution to ensure that the “old guard” can’t simply sneak back in through a side door during the next election.
• Criminal Referral: This is the part that should have the current residents of Kelana Jaya losing sleep. Unlike previous cases, FIFA is now signaling a willingness to hand over their findings to national and international criminal authorities.

No amount of “noble” resignations or “sacrificial” exits is going to stop the investigators from looking under the rug. In fact, the more FAM tries to “pave the way,” the more FIFA will wonder what exactly they are trying to pave over. This isn’t about reform anymore; it’s about recovery. Recovery of the truth, recovery of the sport, and the eventual discovery of who, exactly, thought they could treat the FAM constitution like a rough draft. They want scalps, not ballot papers.