Pressure Builds on Disgraced World Cup Bid Chief

Angry Indonesian soccer fans call for PSSI chief Nurdin Halid to quit at the football association's Jakarta headquarters on Wednesday (Getty)

February 23, 2011 

(WFI) Up to 3,000 Indonesian fans have laid siege to the headquarters of the country’s football federation (PSSI), demanding the removal of its president Nurdin Halid.



Local witnesses tell INSIDER that between 2-3,000 Indonesian fans rallied outside the PSSI offices at Jakarta’s Senayan Stadium demanding Halid step down. The AFP news agency put the figure at 1,000.

Halid, a convicted fraudster who led the country’s shambolic World Cup bid and who previously ran the PSSI from behind prison bars, is standing for a third term as PSSI president.

Anger at his running of Indonesian football intensified over the weekend when two of his chief rivals for the PSSI presidency were barred from standing against him. Army chief of staff, General George Toisutta, and oil tycoon, Arifin Panigoro, were excluded from the elections for as yet unspecified reasons by an electoral committee appointed by the PSSI’s Executive Committee.

FIFA’s Standard Electoral Code demands that commissions overseeing such elections are elected by the members of an association.

But in a letter dated Feb. 9 from FIFA’s director of member associations, Thierry Regenass, to PSSI general secretary Nugraha Besoes - subsequently leaked by the PSSI and seen by INSIDER - FIFA advises that “considering the tight deadlines” the PSSI executive “could also nominate them".

Regenass goes on to advise that “It is essential that the persons who will form the electoral commission are not members of the PSSI’s Executive Committee and are not related to any of the candidates.”

However, the PSSI executive subsequently appointed Syarief Bastaman, a former colleague of Halid’s on the failed World Cup bid committee, to oversee the commission. The first significant act in his new, purportedly independent, role was to exclude Halid’s main rivals from standing.

Earlier this week, Indonesia’s sports minister, Andi Mallarangeng, called on the PSSI to get its house in order and hinted that the government may be willing to step in.

“The PSSI has clearly not complied with these regulations therefore the government calls on it to obey the regulations and therefore amend their approved list of candidates for PSSI chair,” he was quoted by the Jakarta Post.

He added that “the PSSI remains an Indonesian sports entity. The PSSI is subject to legislation and regulations in this country".

Some Indonesian football insiders believe that the PSSI is inviting government pressure so that FIFA will step in on their side. FIFA strictly forbids government interference in the running of football and ban associations where this happens. Others believe that a period on the international sidelines is the only remedy for the Indonesian game.

Indonesia are currently 129th in the FIFA world rankings. Popular discontent with the PSSI led to the creation of a rebel Indonesian Premier League, which kicked off last month.

One source with in-depth knowledge of Indonesian football told INSIDER: “FIFA must know the roots of Indonesia’s football problems and understand why Indonesian football community are so angry with the PSSI. They do not trust the PSSI any more as long as Nurdin Halid rules it.”

The source said that “the most unacceptable problem” facing the game in the country was “deep-rooted corruption.”

“Above all, FIFA must help Indonesia to reform PSSI and to build better football in the country,” he added.

source: worldfootballinsider.com