Football: MCCY appoints provisional FAS council, Lim Kia Tong named interim president

Current FAS vice-president Lim Kia Tong. ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth has, on the advice of national governing body Sport Singapore, appointed a provisional council to oversee the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) for the next five months.

Current FAS vice-president Lim Kia Tong was named interim president and will lead the seven-member council, SportSG announced on Tuesday (Nov 15). Lim replaces former Member of Parliament Zainudin Nordin.

In the press released, it noted that "the key focus of the Provisional Council will be to prepare for the election of the new Council in early 2017, while ensuring stability and continuity in FAS operations in the interim period."

Lim, who is currently in Papua New Guinea as head of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee for the Fifa Under-20 Women's World Cup, said: "I am honoured to be selected to lead the Provisional Council in the interim period, and we will work to ensure that all ongoing plans and programmes of the FAS will continue during this period.

"There are several key issues that we will be looking at, including the future of the S.League and National Football League revamp to a two-tier promotion and relegation system. Also on our list of priorities will be the cultivation of grassroots football such as women's and school's football as well as community participation as a whole.

"The provisional council will work with stakeholders such as SportSG, the Ministry of Education and the Tote Board. The council will be establishing communication channels to form an open eco-system of discussion, that will include not only the key stakeholders, but also its Ordinary Members and the general public."

The provisional team will take charge of the FAS from Nov 16 until March 31, 2017. This comes after the revised constitution was unanimously approved by 38 FAS members at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Nov 7. Eight member affiliates did not turn up.

The move paves the way for the local football fraternity to elect their own leaders for the first time in over 30 years. Previously, the committee was appointed by the Government, most recently MCCY.

Outgoing FAS chief Zainudin said: "It certainly has been a privilege to serve at various levels of the FAS council especially as President in the past seven years. I wish to thank the outgoing FAS council, staff and management for their hard work and resilience.

"The incoming Provisional Council will have the mandate to continue the ongoing work at FAS. I am confident that with the unanimous support at the EGM of the amended Constitution, the Provisional Council will be able to affect the smooth transition of leadership under the revised Constitution of FAS."

The seven-men interim council are:

Lim Kia Tong (president), Bernard Tan, Edwon Tong, Tan Soo Nan (vice-president), Sarjit Singh (honorary treasurer), Thavaneson Selvaratnam and Razali Saad (members)

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