The head coach position of the Malaysia national team will be advertised, with an appointment made by December, the Football Association of Malaysia has announced.
The FAM has advised that all candidates will be considered for both the senior and under-23 positions.
Current U23 boss Ong Kim Swee has been in charge of the national team on an interim basis since Sep. 5, after Dollah Salleh quit in the wake of a record 10-0 defeat to United Arab Emirates in an AFC World Cup qualifier.
Mokhtar Ahmad, the FAM's deputy president and head of the special task force charged with finding the new manager, says that while international coaches are invited to apply, all candidates will be given serious consideration. In the meantime -- until December at least -- ex-national team fullback Ong will remain in charge.
"A lot of people want us to hire a foreign coach, but we're open and transparent. We'll appoint the candidates who meet our criteria," he said, according to the Star. "We will also set up a selection panel with members from the National Sports Council to look into the appointment of the national U23 coach."
On Monday, there were strong rumours that Bojan Hodak, former head coach of Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT), was about to be named to the Malaysian position. But the Croatian told ESPN FC that he had received no approach from FAM.
Whether the Harimau Muda programme should continue would be decided by a white paper that will be brought up at the next FAM executive committee meeting.
"The white paper will be produced based on the input from media representatives, former players, coaches and academicians," he said.
Meanwhile, FAM president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has dared Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to suspend the national body after last week's World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia was abandoned when fans fired flares onto the pitch at Shah Alam Stadium.
"Just go ahead and suspend us then," the FAM president said in comments reported by the Malaysia Insider. "Yes, we will abide (by) and accept any action taken as the minister has the power.
"(But) it is the responsibility of many parties, including the Shah Alam stadium management and police, to ensure every aspect of a world-class match is in place for the match to proceed smoothly," he said.
"So, the violence and disruption to the match that occurred as a result of safety issues caused by football hooligans cannot be entirely put on FAM's shoulders."
FAM officials, who have 14 days to submit an official report to the sports ministry, are awaiting possible sanctions from FIFA who are reviewing DVDs of the incident before making a ruling that could come later this week.