Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have announced that the nickname of the Malaysia national football team, Harimau Malaya will be known as Harimau Malaysia starting 2016 onwards.
There are plenty of history on the name of Harimau Malaya.
Malaysia national team gained the nickname Harimau Malaya after the Malaysian legendary striker of 1940s and 1950s, Dollah Don who scored three goals for Melayu Singapore team after 3-0 down against Indonesian side, Peseja. President of Indonesia, Sukarno at the time was so impressed with Dollah's performance that he begin calling Dollah, 'Harimau Malaya'. The nickname might came from the fact that Harimau Malaya is a well-known tiger in Southeast Asia. FAM soon adopted the nickname for the national team until the present day.
Since independence, Malaya has changed the name to Federation of Malaya until 1963 when the government has decided to form Malaysia that will represent Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak which the name has remain strong until today.
In 2004, when the name Harimau Malaya became official, it became highly controversial among the Malaysian association zoos as they argued it should be name panthera tigris malayensis to reflect the origin of the animal but after much negotiations, researchers of The World Conservation Union has decided to name the tiger panthera tigris jacksoni, to honour the tiger conservationist, Peter Jackson who has dedicated his life on promoting tiger conservation.
Besides that, General of Imperial Japanese Army, Tomoyuki Yamashita has also earned the nickname Tiger of Malaya after incredibly conquered Malaya and Singapore in just 70 days.
In recent years though, many have been critical with the nickname, citing that the nickname did not fully represent the whole country, as Malaya only represents the Peninsular (Semenanjung in Malay) with Sabahan and Sarawakian felt that their presence were completely ignored and they felt that the participation of the players such as James Wong and Hassan Sani were completely under-appreciated.
The President of FAM, Tengku Abdullah argued that the word Malaya no longer used by the country since 1963, and he wanted Sabah and Sarawak to feel that the national team belongs to them too.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Khairy Jamaluddin has addressed the issue last year and said that the name Harimau Malaya sounds like Sabah and Sarawak have not involved in the development of the national team at all.
Harimau Malaya has always been the identity of Malaysian football, and that identity has been cherished for such a long time by Malaysian society. In football, when the name changed, identity changed. When identity changed, it feels like they have lost something. Something precious.
This is Harimau Malaya that won Merdeka Cup, SEA Games, AFF Suzuki Cup. This is Harimau Malaya that participated in Munich Olympic 1972, Asian Cup 1976 and 1980 and qualified for Moscow Olympic 1980.
This is Harimau Malaya that were represented by so many great players such as Abdul Ghani Minhat, R.Arumugam, Chow Chee Keong, Wong Kam Fook, Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh, Peter Rajah, Wong Choon Wah, James Wong, Hassan Sani, Mokhtar Dahari-just to name a few.
Is the nickname Harimau Malaya for a football team really a big deal for you? If it's really a big deal, I'm sorry, Malaysia still have a long way to go. But if the nickname Harimau Malaysia makes you feel better, then fine. So be it.
Selamat tinggal Harimau Malaya.
Harimau Malaya
The nickname of Malaysia national football team.
(1950-2016)