PUTRAJAYA, May 8 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has refuted claims that the Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) senior management is being targeted following the series of recent attacks on footballers.
“No (they are not being targeted). I just wanted to meet Faisal (Muhammad Faisal Abdul Halim),” he told the press briefly after attending the Prime Minister’s Department’s Madani Aidilfitri open house today.
Saifuddin did not elaborate on when he would meet Faisal but had previously conveyed his sympathies over the acid attack on the Selangor FC footballer in a Facebook post.
“To Faisal Halim’s family, may you all remain strong in light of this challenge. I am convinced the police have conducted a detailed investigation into this incident.
“Let us put our wholehearted trust in the police,” he said.
Claims that several FAM officials would be the next targets of attacks after several national footballers were attacked recently were uploaded on an Instagram account recently, but the post did not provide the motive behind these attacks.
Three local footballers have been victims of recent attacks, beginning with Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid, who was injured during a mugging near his home in Kuala Terengganu on Thursday (May 2).
Faisal’s attack happened on Sunday (May 5) while he was at a shopping mall in Petaling Jaya, and yesterday Johor Darul Ta’zim player Safiq Rahim was attacked by two men on a motorcycle who smashed his car’s rear windscreen with a hammer in Johor Bahru.
— Bernama
