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‘Dark Future’ for Football in Indonesia
Wimbo Satwiko | May 23, 2011

Joko Driyono, center, the acting PSSI secretary general, said the country must brace for Joko Driyono, center, the acting PSSI secretary general, said the country must brace for 'a dark future' following the chaotic end to the PSSI congress on Friday. (Antara Photo)
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bkpartohardono
12:08pm May 23, 2011

Why almost in every election here in this country always ended by a chaos?

It's natural that people want to be the leader but it should not mean that 'I have to be the leader' no matter the way to reach that.

Do we still have nationalism here?

In my opinion, there is a quite simple requirement for PSSI Top Leader i.e 'loves' clean and beautiful football game by all mean. All PSSI Region Leader should meet this requirement and if it is, the Top Leader election is quite easy caused everybody has the same target 'clean and beautiful' game.

Duck
10:58am May 23, 2011

It is only a matter of time when the FIFA will be sued. Because of course Indonesians can never do wrong and this situation must be someone else's fault.

"Andi said the congress should not be seen “as representative of the true state of Indonesian football” "

So, what is the state of Indonesian football? Can't be much better than this face-palming summit.


Duck
10:56am May 23, 2011

It is only a matter of time when the FIFA will be sued. Because of course Indonesians can never do wrong and this situation must be someone else's fault.

"Andi said the congress should not be seen “as representative of the true state of Indonesian football” "

So, what is the state of Indonesian football? Can't be much better than this face-palming summit.


seandemingez
8:43am May 23, 2011

Once again, this does not surprise or disappoint me. The short-sightedness, immaturity, greed and stupidity of the ruling class here (leadership or lack of it) is the stuff of daily headlines. Whether it be Ministers declaring national days off on a whim, corruption in the ASEAN games or the Gymnastics Federation dismissed from their international body for not paying their dues. FIFA GO TO IT! MAKE THESE FOOLS LOOSE FACE AND APPEAR THE FOOLS THEY TRULY ARE!

exbrit
6:03am May 23, 2011

Football is such an obsession in Indonesia that nobody seems to care about all the corruption and the fundamentalist problems here, Remember the novel "Fahrenheit 451" which said something like "Give them their sports and their super sports and they won't care what the government does." So true.

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A high-ranking Indonesian football official says there is no doubt FIFA will suspend the country after the Indonesian Football Association election scheduled for last week was called off.

Joko Driyono, acting secretary general of the association, also known as the PSSI, said the country must brace for “a dark future” following the chaotic end to the PSSI congress on Friday.

“The members of the normalization committee have agreed not to make any comments on our meeting with FIFA representatives,” Joko told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

“All I can say is we’ve communicated to FIFA that we failed to hold the congress. In my opinion, the chance of a FIFA sanction is 2,000 percent.”

On Saturday, the Globe was informed by a source who was privy to the meeting between the normalization committee and FIFA officials that the FIFA representatives would “endorse a sanction” when the executive committee of world football’s governing body convenes on May 30.

The source refused to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Joko said the situation had deteriorated so badly that the PSSI would struggle to convince FIFA to change its mind.

“It’s not about what the PSSI can do after this. It’s about what kind of sanction that FIFA will give us,” he said.

Suspension from international play would be a shock for a large country with a passionate following for football.

Such a sanction would bar Indonesia from playing in FIFA-sanctioned events, such as the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and any Asian Football Confederation club competitions. It would also keep Indonesia from competing in football at the Southeast Asian Games, which it will host in November.

“We could hold a local league, but we could not play in any of FIFA’s events,” Joko said. “I don’t know how long [a suspension] would last, but it depends on the association’s commitment to solving its problems.”

A faction of “pro-reform” PSSI members, who stalled the proceedings, blamed the normalization committee, under Agum Gumelar, for the failure to hold an election on Friday.

The controversial Group of 78 said FIFA would be taking matters too far if it were to suspend the country.

“Agum failed to carry out his duty. It was an ordinary event, and the participants didn’t do anything to disturb the proceeding,” said Yunus Nusi, the group’s spokesman.

“Agum and [FIFA representative] Thierry Regenass had no right to speak at the meeting. The question is this: Will FIFA sanction Indonesia because of Agum’s incompetence? I don’t think there will be any sanction. FIFA has no legal basis to do that.”

FIFA had set a deadline of Saturday for the election, which had already been pushed back three times. It will likely not look kindly on Indonesia’s continued refusal to put its house in order.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng to help resolve the matter.

Andi said the congress should not be seen “as representative of the true state of Indonesian football” and that Friday’s summit was part of “a long process of reform at the PSSI, an effort that needed to be continued.”