It took merely 40 minutes for the FAM to conclude their congress this morning.
A total of 30 delegates representing 20 affiliates attended the Congress, and not one raised any issue to be discussed.
It was not a case of not been given an opportunity but the delegates were probably unaware when they could raise issues pertaining to how FAM was administrated and its financial dealings.
The two opportunities, perhaps unknown to many comes when the annual activity report and the financial report are tabled.
The delegates could have asked any question, ranging from development, national team, finance, anything concerning Football in the country.
But none of them did that and one may even think that FAM is run like and iron fist.
There is no doubt that any issues within FAM are resolved at the sidelines Abd this is due to a knowledgable General Secretary in Dato Hamidin Mohd Amin.
While the Congress was smooth, several other matters could have been done better.
For instance no copies of the annual report was given to members of the media. Was there something to hide?
When asked why the media was not given a copy, a member of the staff said that they printed only enough copies for the delegates, which to someone who was in FAM is a blatant lie.
Then u had the "gift" of an umbrella, more like the malay proverb " sediakan payung sebelum hujan".
One could see many staff of FAM walking out with umbrellas but not one was given to members of the media. It was like a circus as the staff went around tables collecting umbrellas once the meeting was over.
Kudos to the media fraternity who went around doing their jobs efficiently despite these sideshows that even Hamidin was flabbergasted when told later.
Back to the issue of the pen drive, perhaps mocking or unawares, all were given a foot gift of a box that contained a pen drive.
But seriously FAM could have laid to rest the real pen drive issue had they discussed the matter at the Congress.
But they opted to let the Exco deliberate it on October 10,citing no knowledge of the contents to really make any decisions.
Which in a way could be construed as the right way to approach this tricky situation.
Does the pen drive contain documents that actually belong to FAM? Are they leaked documents that come under the purview of FAM? Are they merely documents or views of some that are not within FAM? Or is it just a complication of certain reports of FAM over a period of time?
In any case to be fair, FAM did the right thing - await the report from MACC and look at the contents before deciding on the next course of action.
Of course we also have the case of the missing officials from the National Sports Council and National Sports Institute, two government agencies that are grossly over staffed yet could not send two officials to attend the meeting of a most focussed upon national sports association.
Wonder if they would have missed a trip to watch the World Cup?
So we are all left wondering just who can dream of breaking the stranglehold one has in FAM!
The fact is loud and clear - nothing or no one can shake FAM, not even the manoeuvring being done by using underhand tactics as well as attempting to do character assassination as being undertaken by some and expected to hit the roof soon.
