IT is among the most talked-about topics in Malaysia now, with even royal figures commenting on it.
It is no wonder, since it involves a national obsession and one of the most successful teams —- arguably the best — in Malaysian football history.
We are talking, of course, about the hullabaloo surrounding the punishment issued to Selangor Football Club (Selangor FC) by the Malaysian Football League (MFL).
The MFL initially hit the Red Giants with a RM100,000 fine, docked three points and ordered it to play the return leg against Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) in an empty stadium.
This was for Selangor FC pulling out of the Charity Shield match in May, which also served as the opening fixture for both teams in this season's league.
After a scathing statement from the sultan of Selangor, the fine was reduced to RM60,000 and the three-point penalty was rescinded.
That drew comments from the Regent of Johor, the man most responsible for the glory of the country's most successful team of recent times, JDT.
He said he and his team had been sanctioned before but he had never made a fuss nor asked his father, the sultan, to intervene.
The ruckus may seem minuscule when compared with conflicts from Myanmar to Palestine and to Ukraine, the sadness and lack of closure for the families of those aboard the two Malaysian
Airlines flights that were lost 10 years ago, and mass shootings
in countries like the United States.
But it is symptomatic of an argument that has been going on for eons: the battle between the letter and the spirit of the law.
There are those who insist that the letter of the law must be carried out without any mitigating factor.
Yet there is almost always at least one mitigating factor, even in criminal cases.
The Selangor players were likely traumatised by the May 5 acid attack on one of their own, Faisal Halim.
There were also reports of threats against team officials.
The attack and the threats came just before the Charity Shield match, and the Red Giants had requested that the match be postponed.
Why could this not happen? Could the MFL not have found a suitable date for a postponed match to be played?
Following the 1958 Munich air disaster that devastated the Manchester United team, their schedule in the English league had to be rearranged.
Their matches were postponed and this affected the entire league.
Granted, of course, that the team had just lost eight players, with others injured. Even their manager, Sir Matt Busby, was badly injured.
Selangor FC had only one player attacked and he survived.
But the Munich crash had left those who survived it traumatised. And in the case of Selangor, the trauma is no less real.
Selangor officials had asked for only one match to be postponed. English league officials decided to allow several games to be rescheduled.
Perhaps JDT, too, could have showed solidarity with Selangor FC and agreed to a rescheduling.
There have been cases where the spirit of the law has appeared not to have been taken into account.
The case taken up by Malaysian women to allow their children born overseas to foreign fathers is perhaps one of the most recent examples.
In a Federal Constitution long amended to ensure equal standing for men and women — and a Federal Court decision that stated that where it says "father" in the Constitution, it should also mean mother — this case is an anomaly.
Why did the government appeal the case, all the while saying the Constitution would be amended?
In this case, it was not just the spirit of the law, but the spirit of the court's decision, that seems to have fallen by the wayside.
In fact, just like how the fine for Selangor FC could have been avoided if the MFL had agreed to postpone the match, the case by the mothers could have been avoided if the National Registration Department had not been so strict about granting citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian women and foreign fathers.
We seem to love granting citizenship to football players who have even the slightest "heritage" status.
There are also those who are naturalised and can play for Harimau Malaya.
So why is it so difficult to get citizenship when you have a mother who is Malaysian?
The writer is NST news editor