KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Football League (MFL) have confirmed that they have already taken action earlier in efforts to resolve the salary arrears issue involving 18 Perlis players’.
The issue of salary arrears is part of the agreement between the Perlis FA (PFA) and MFL that was agreed upon on December 28 whereby they will be given a period of 60 days to resolve the matter by paying the players’ what is due.
MFL’s board of directors member, Mustaza Ahmad explained that PFA were given such a timeframe to resolve the salary arrears issue and MFL have announced that they will hold back the annual grant as collateral for the state association to pay off the salary arrears owed to the players.
“The claims made by the 18 players is already part of the agreement between MFL and PFA, as this is not something new that has just surfaced. We are working on a way to overcome this problem.
“PFA have given assurances that they will resolve this problem before the kickoff for the 2019 season of the Malaysia League (M-League),” said Mustaza via a statement released earlier today (Wednesday).
“PFA still have time to resolve this problem and if they fail to do so, then MFL will use the annual grant allocated to them to settle this issue of salary arrears.”
NSTP Sport reported that some of the 18 Perlis players who featured in the FAM Cup last season claimed that they have yet to receive their salary arrears owed to them as promised by PFA, so much so that they have had to resort to taking up other jobs such as being fisherman and doing odd jobs in their respective villages just to make a living, because of the financial difficulties that they are experiencing.
Following the claims made by the group of players, the issue of Perlis’ selection to be promoted to the Premier League has been brought into question.
However, Mustaza said that the approval for such a move was made on the basis of the commitment and planning by PFA’s new management to settle the salary arrears issue and strengthen the association’s finances for the new season.
“We know that there are still those who question Perlis’ status as a Premier League team, but we have allowed their participation based on certain criteria’s that have been agreed upon.
“FAM (FA of Malaysia) had proposed three teams, namely Kuching FA, Armed Forces and Perlis from the FAM Cup, to fill the slot for the Premier League based on the teams’ planning which included the financial aspect.
“From these three teams proposed, MFL’s board of directors then carried out selection based on certain criteria’s which included strength of supporters and financial issues and problems.
“In the end, Perlis were chosen because they had a good fan base and were not in heavy debt,” he said.