POLITICS and sports should never mix. That train of thought believes that both spheres should remain distinct and separate, and with good reason, too.
After all, a person’s political persuasion should not impact his or her ability to perform.
With the FIFA World Cup fever is in full swing, this theory has been put to the test in the domestic context at least. Those tuning in would have noted former national footballer Azlan Johar giving his expert opinion on games, most notably during the Brazil v Morocco tie.
It has been controversially contended that Azlan has been “rested” from his punditry duties after having pledged his allegiance to PAS which he officially joined over the weekend (June 13).
In a strongly worded statement on Facebook, PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan expressed hope that the Madani government and the relevant agencies do not simply blacklist citizens from dispensing their professional duties based on their political affiliation.
“The right to association and engage in political activity is enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution,” contended the Kota Bahru MP who clearly felt that Azlan was being persecuted for his political leanings.
These sentiments were echoed in Pemuda PAS Selangor’s Facebook page where it was pointedly asked “what had Azlan done wrong?”
It was contended that joining PAS has in no way impacted Azlan’s ability to act as a pundit for the highly-anticipated Copa Mundial.
‘RTM has last say’
As it is, the post mocked the government of the day for not being able to accept individual’s right to express different opinions and join rival parties when it had previously championed democratic principles.
“PH (Pakatan Haraoan) is under pressure,” declared PAS Youth vice-chief Hanif Jamaluddin. “The rakyat are watching. The rakyat are evaluating.”
However, this viewpoint was vehemently denied by official broadcaster RTM. Broadcasting director-general Ashwad Ismail described the allegation as baseless given Azlan did not have a contract to commentate on all 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup.
“RTM invited Azlan to be a commentator for that match, hence RTM has the right to invite other guest commentators throughout the tournament,” the head honcho of the national broadcaster told Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
“It’s also the right of other individuals to appear as guest commentators for this World Cup edition.”
The issue sparked a lively debate on social media. The PAS secretary-general ‘s FB post alone has amassed 5.7K likes, 867 comments and 404 shares at time of writing, thus denoting there were many who wanted to share their views on the matter.
For starters, there were obviously those who felt that RTM should be both neutral and apolitical, especially when Azlan’s role was merely as a sportscaster.
More than a few felt that Azlan’s choice of party would not impact his ability to act as a football pundit.
On the flipside, one World Cup fan felt that RTM were well within their rights to invite who they pleased as pundits for the football bonanza.
The contention was that the move was probably to avoid an opposition party supporter to further their agenda on national TV, more so for an event that will attract plenty of eyeballs. It was further surmised that PAS would have done the same if the tables were turned.
Suffice to say, the success of RTM (and Unifi) in capturing the broadcasting rights for the 2026 edition of the Copa Mundial is quite a coup.
Making the event free-to-watch (most of the games anyway) is quite a feather in the cap for the Madani administration to highlight its efforts to ease financial burden of the rakyat.
Hence, it is unlikely that the Madani administration will allow a PAS member to benefit from the exposure.
As the event is bound to attract huge audiences, having Azlan’s face on the TV for extended hours will certainly have an impact.
Imagine if he runs for office in future, he would have benefitted from this large-scale exposure as many voters may recognise him as the World Cup pundit.
While it may be wrong to exclude any person from career opportunities for their political beliefs, it must be noted that RTM is well within its rights to invite other pundits for the 39-day football jamboree.
As one commenter wryly noted, RTM as the official government media is unlikely to allow pro-opposition individuals to ruin proceedings. – June 16, 2026
