What happened at Shah Alam Stadium shameful - Officials, critics

The only word to describe Tuesday night's incident at the Shah Alam Stadium is 'shameful'.

The action of some local football fans to let off firecrackers, flares and throw smoke bombs onto the pitch when Malaysia and Saudi Arabia were in action in a World Cup qualifying Asian Zone Group A match was nothing short of a scene from a war movie.

Their action saw Hong Kong referee Liu Kwok Man abandoned the match in the 88th minute to ensure the safety of the players and officials who were on the field.

There was further embarrassment as the incident drew wide coverage from foreign media, especially in the United Kingdom like BBC, Daily Mirror and The Guardian while International news agencies like AFP and Reuters also carried the news worldwide.

Such incidents are not new in the football scene but the magnitude of the incident this time around would leave a major scar on the country's image and Malaysian football in general.

There has been previous incidents involving Malaysia fans, especially a group of fans known as Ultras Malaya during an international friendly between Malaysia and the Philippines at the Selayang Stadium in March 2014, resulting in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) imposing a fine of US$10,000 (RM43,173) on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for poor security.

That incident was followed by another incident when the FAM was fined US$35,000 (RM151,108) due to crowd trouble during the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal against Vietnam at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Dec 7, 2014.

The question is how can banned items like flares, firecrackers and rocket parachute flares be brought into the stadium when all fans are screened by the police when entering the stadium.

Former international Khalid Ali, the brother of current Pahang coach Zainal Abidin said the whole problem was a result of local fans who sneak in such items although the FAM has enhanced security at the entry points.

"To me, such an incident should not have happened. If they want to stage a protest against the FAM, there are other ways and channels," said Khalid.

Another international Bakri Ibni said the FAM and police should be blamed for the unruly behaviour of fans at the Shah Alam Stadium because both had failed to deploy enough security personnel.

"After the embarrassing 0-10 defeat to UAE in Abu Dhabi last week, they should have anticipated trouble here after so much negative reports in the local dailies. They should have been better prepared and alert," said Bakri.

Former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Secretary-General Datuk Peter Velappan pointed out that the commotion by some irresponsible Malaysian fans was due to negligence in the security section.

He said the FAM and also the security personnel should take immediate action against any suspicious fan to avoid any untoward incident.

"There is no security personnel monitoring their movement. For me, it is a total security failure," said Velappan who also served as FAM Assistant Secretary-General from 1963-1980.

National historian, academician and sports critic Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim said the incident was not a reflection of local tradition or culture but because the current generation are adopting foreign culture.