Shahidan suspended 30 months, fined RM39,000

Perlis Football Association President Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim was handed a 30-month suspension and RM39,000 fine for criticising the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

Following the suspension, the former Perlis Menteri Besar will not be able to carry out his duties as the Perlis FA President or the FAM Finance Committee and Women's Football Committee until September 2015.

The ban comes after the FAM Disciplinary Committee found Shahidan guilty of three charges for breaching Article 88 and 20 of FAM Statutes as well as having intent to tarnish the image of the national body.

He (Shahidan) did not reply FAM's show cause letter and we see this as an insult to the national body, said Disciplinary Committee deputy chairman Ednan Othman, who chaired the meeting in the absence of chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak, at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya, here today.

"The ban will be effective once Shahidan receives a letter 14 days after today's decision.

Shahidan who had earlier announced that he was resigning from the two FAM committee posts, becomes the second state FA president to be handed a 30-month suspension in less than a year after Kelantan FA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa was handed a similar sentence last April for allegedly breaching Article 88 by criticising the national teams performance.

Under the statute, only the FAM president and general-secretary can comment on such matters.

Shahidan had earlier argued that FAM should not take any action against him simply because he had voiced out what was decided in the Perlis FA meeting (urging FAM to assist poor teams like Perlis) and talking about bribery.

Meanwhile, the Kelantan FA (KAFA) was fined RM62,500 for failing to control the crowd during a Super League match between Kelantan and Johor Darul Takzim at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium in Kota Baharu on January 15.

"KAFA cannot appeal against the punishment and need to pay the fine in 14 days," he said adding that Kelantan may have to play in an empty stadium if there was crowd trouble during the match against Pahang in a Super League match at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan on Saturday.

"We will station our officer to monitor the Kelantan fans during the match," he said.