Update [29/12/2022]: Weeks after the event transpired, The Malaysia Esports Federation (MESF) has made the following statement, stating that the posts mentioned in the original story were due to “clear breach of protocol and clarity on individuals involved in making statements […] without MESF’s approval”.

Original story

It has come to light that the Malaysian Esports Federation (MESF) has failed to send the Malaysian representatives for Tekken 7 and Dota 2 to Bali for the 2022 IESF World Championship.

Following their qualification, the Malaysian representatives for the aforementioned games were expected to attend the Championship in neighbouring Indonesia. However, they were only notified that they won’t be participating at the very last minute. This fact was made worse that only the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and eFootball 2023 contingents will be flying to Bali.

From what we were told, there was a serious lack of communication between the federation and the Tekken representative, Abdul “Fate” Rahim with him only receiving one update from them leading up to the Championship notifying him that he couldn’t go.

We’re unsure as to the exact reason but it is believed to be due to the fact that the MESF were financially incapable to send him. Another reason that seems less likely could have been visa issues. In spite of all these questions, MESF has yet to make a statement regarding the situation.

Fate wasn’t the only representative that MESF failed to send either. The Dota 2 team Atlantis were also unable to attend the Championship in Bali for the same reasons.

Fans of the representatives have been extremely vocal regarding their frustrations with the organization as it is believed to be due to the lack of finances that the representatives were unable to attend. Leading to further frustrations, even if the representatives did attend the Championship, they would have allegedly had to declare 30% of their prize money earned as tax. The real issue is that as the national body of esports, there should have at least been a budget allocated for competitions like this, and even if not, the federation has many sponsors backing them so it shouldn’t have been hard to acquire such funds.

Who Is To Blame?

This isn’t the first time Malaysian esports representatives have failed to attend a high-profile event. In 2018, the Malaysian Overwatch World Cup team had to withdraw from the World Cup due to its failure to secure funds to send the team to participate in the United States. Granted, it was to fly about ten players halfway across the globe. The more recent inability of the MESF to send Malaysian representatives to compete in Indonesia is inexcusable.

Frustrated by MESF’s silence, people have gone as far as to contact the federation directly just to get an explanation for a couple of weeks now. Focus has now shifted to the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports Minister and Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh and Adam Adli respectively. However, considering both of the Ministers were only recently appointed, the microscope should be directed at the previous administration and their failure to provide long-term support for the esports scene.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=199932372562606&id=100076375323169

To rub salt in the wound, the official MESF Facebook page promoted a post that presented the Tekken 7 schedule, knowing well that they haven’t addressed the situation at all. The comments are entertaining, to say the least, if you know the context.

https://www.facebook.com/malaysiaesportsfederation/posts/pfbid0NQTPixPvsymB9zN1wGJb1CD8HVbbNZP9x7Q8LMgDNiWyDidpKmcgZvRzb4UXTp57l

This is still a developing story. As we mentioned before, MESF has still yet to make a statement regarding this entire debacle, so if and/or when they do, Kakuchopurei will be sure to cover it.

Disclaimer: Kakuchopurei Founder, Kenn Leandre was the General Manager of Team Malaysia for the 2018 Overwatch World Cup.