The Malaysian football public is currently behaving like a group of frantic passengers on a sinking ship, arguing over whether the new Captain should wear a crown or a business suit. With the FAM Exco having recently performed their best “Houdini” act—vanishing into thin air via mass resignation this January—the screams for Sultan Abdullah of Pahang to return have reached a fever pitch.

But here’s a reality check that might taste like a stale stadium pie: It doesn’t matter who is in the big chair.

You could put the ghost of Sir Alex Ferguson in charge, flanked by a team of Swiss bankers and a psychic octopus, and the FAM would still find a way to trip over its own shoelaces. Why? Because we are obsessed with the Who when we should be terrified of the What. We don’t need a saviour; we need a sledgehammer to the current structure.

If we don’t fix the governance, the next President will just be the latest person to be blamed for a system that is fundamentally designed to fail. Here is a suggested blueprint for structural reform—the pillars that might actually stop us from being the laughing stock of the AFC:

1. The “Church and State” Separation

In most functional organisations, the board sets the vision and the professionals do the work. At FAM, these lines are as blurry as a 240p stream of a third-division match. Currently, we have elected officials making executive decisions on legal contracts and technical blueprints.

• The Fix: We need a Professional Management Pillar. The President and Exco should provide oversight only. Hire a ‘proper’ CEO who knows that “ROI” isn’t a type of Brazilian striker and let them run the shop. If a politician wants to pick the national team’s socks, they should be shown the door.

2. The “Fort Knox” Transparency Mandate

FAM’s finances are more mysterious than the recipe for KFC. We just paid a RM 1.8 million fine for “administrative lapses” regarding naturalised players, and the public explanation was basically a shrug and a “whoopsie.”

• The Fix: Mandatory Public Audits. Every ringgit from FIFA, the government, and sponsors needs to be tracked on a public ledger. If we’re spending millions on “consultations” that lead to us losing to teams ranked lower than a Sunday league side, we deserve to see the receipts.

3. The “No-Dinosaur” 12-Year Tenure Limit

Don’t be fooled when people talk about “four-year terms.” In the current FAM statutes, a “term” is just a suggestion of time before you run for re-election. Without a hard cap, officials stay until they’ve literally grown into the upholstery, creating a “Patronage Network” that’s harder to shift than a parked bus in front of goal.

• The Fix: A Hard Lifetime Cap. No official—be it the President or an ordinary member—should serve more than three terms (12 years total) in their lifetime. Period. No “strategic retreats,” no jumping from Vice President to President to reset the clock. This ensures fresh ideas and stops the “Old Boys Club” from treating Wisma FAM like a retirement home.

4. The “Anti-Fiction” Naturalisation Audit

The recent naturalisation circus proved that FAM’s vetting process is about as rigorous as a Facebook quiz. We’ve had “heritage” players whose connection to Malaysia was seemingly based on once seeing a picture of a Petronas tower.

• The Fix: An Independent Verification Unit. Stop letting the same people who want the player to play be the ones who verify his documents. We need an external body to check birth certificates and family trees so we don’t end up with another “technical error” that costs us our dignity and RM 1.8 million.

5. The Statute of Post-Tenure Liability

In the current system, if you make a mess, you just resign and wait for the heat to die down. It’s the ultimate “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

• The Fix: Legal Accountability. Amend the statutes so that resigning doesn’t end your liability. If a massive financial black hole is discovered after an official leaves, they should still be held legally and financially responsible. If you break the toy, you pay for it—even if you’ve already left the sandbox.

The Verdict

We can keep playing “Musical Chairs” with the Presidency until the cows come home, but unless we change the rules of the game, the music will always stop with us face-down on the floor. Sultan Abdullah might be the only one with the weight to force these changes, but his return should be about building a system, not just occupying a throne.

Because at the end of the day, a gold-plated steering wheel is useless if the car doesn’t have an engine.