I woke up yesterday and checked the news, fully expecting the usual: another 400-place drop in the FIFA rankings or a statement saying our grass is “too green” for goals. Instead, I found the entire FAM Executive Committee had resigned. Huzzah! The crowd cheers, the flags wave, and for one brief, intoxicating moment, we all dared to dream.

What came to me as another shocker, was that the narrative being spun is that this was some “self-sacrificing” act of institutional responsibility. Huh??? This was definitely not a sudden onset of integrity; it was a desperate tactical surrender. They were backed into a corner by the furious media and a fanbase that has finally run out of patience. By stepping down, they were not being noble—they were simply cushioning the inevitable fall they caused. They’re jumping under the bus before they’re being pushed, hoping that by “sacrificing” their national titles, we might forget that the naturalisation scandal involving the “Fabricated Seven” actually happened during their watch.

As the hangover of relief and surprise fadesd, I slumped back into my chair feeling suspiciously worried. All this could well be a classic sleight of hand—a bit like a magician “disappearing” from the stage only to be found five minutes later in the lobby clutching a complimentary sandwich. They’ve “disappeared” from the national stage, but if you look behind the curtains of the state associations, they’re all still there, clutching their lanyards and drinking the same over-priced teh tarik.

When Exco members “resign” from FAM, they aren’t actually leaving the building. They are simply vacating their seats at the national level while keeping the keys to the kingdom back home. Because they retain their roles as Presidents of their respective state associations, they remain the very people who will vote or dictate the vote for the “new” Exco.

To understand why this “mass resignation” has the structural integrity of a wet poppadom, you have to look at the plumbing. In any sane organization, power trickles down from the top. But in the upside-down, through-the-looking-glass world of Malaysian football governance, the power flows upward. It’s a “bottom-up” system, which sounds democratic and lovely until you realise the “bottom” is a swamp that never drains.

Yesterday’s mass exodus is now looking more like a “Resignation Lite.” It’s like quitting smoking but continuing to inhale five packs a day through your ears. It is a symbolic gesture designed to quiet the mob while keeping the influence firmly in their pockets.

Under the FAM Statute and the Sports Development Act, these state associations—your PAFA, your FAS, your Johor FA—are independent legal entities. They have their own constitutions, their own committees, and their own elections. FAM is not their boss; it is a federation of these members.

Here’s the genius—and by “genius,” I mean “utterly maddening”—part of the design:

• The Voters: The state associations are the ones who elect the FAM Exco members.
• The Candidates: The people they vote for … themselves.

It is a human centipede of bureaucracy. It’s the only election on Earth where a man can look into a mirror, wink at his reflection, cast a vote for the handsome devil staring back, and then act surprised when he’s “elected to serve” the nation.

A collective resignation often fails to produce deep change because the election cycle is a closed loop. When a national seat becomes vacant, a new election is called. The voters in that election are the same state affiliates. Often, these state delegates will simply re-elect the same individuals—or a “loyalist” who shares the same tailor—back into the national body.

We don’t need a resignation; we need an exorcism. A “clean slate” is impossible as long as the voting power reside with the same people who oversaw the naturalisation fiasco. That scandal, involving the “Fabricated Seven”, happened on their watch. To suggest they are the “solution” to the problem they created is like asking a serial killer to lead homicide investigation.

Unless the state associations—the “Affiliate Black Hole”—are purged with the intensity of a deep-sea pressure wash, this isn’t a “New Era.” It’s just the same old circus performers switching horses while the tent is on fire.

Soon, we will have elections. And who will the voters be? The same state delegates who just “resigned.” It’s the only election in the world where the result is always a loss for the fans. Anyway, back to the real world, where I expect the “new” Exco to be announced by lunchtime, consisting entirely of the old Exco wearing fake moustaches.