FIFA intervenes in Indonesia FA crisis
Reuters - Monday 04 April 2011, 17:19
BERNE, April 4 (Reuters) - FIFA intervened directly in
Indonesia's football crisis on Monday, announcing it was
appointing a committee to take over from the local federation on
an interim basis.
FIFA said in a statement that the so-called normalisation
committee would organise elections for the Football Association
of Indonesia (PSSI) leadership by the end of next month, stop a
rebel league and run the association on a day-to-day basis.
The decision followed chaotic scenes 10 days ago when an
assembly to organise the first PSSI elections in four years was
called off after opponents of chairman Nurdin Halid stormed in
claiming they had been stripped of voting rights.
Halid was jailed in 2007 for misusing funds but continued to
run the PSSI from his cell.
"The FIFA emergency committee came...to the conclusion that
the PSSI leadership had lost all credibility within Indonesia
and was not in a position any more to lead the process to solve
the current crisis," said FIFA in a statement.
FIFA added that the PSSI's lack of control was "proven by
the failure to gain control of the breakaway league, set up
without the involvement of PSSI, or by the fact it could not
organise a congress whose sole goals were to adopt an electoral
code and elect an electoral commission.
The normalisation committee would consist of Indonesian
football personalities who would not be able to run in the PSSI
positions and would act as an electoral commission, said FIFA.
"The mission of the normalisation committee is to organise
elections based on the FIFA electoral code and PSSI statutes
before May 21, to bring the run-away league under PSSI
control... (and) to run the day-to-day activities of PSSI in a
spirit of reconciliation for the good of the Indonesian
football," it said.
Halid is in his second term as PSSI president but has faced
growing criticism at the poor performances of Indonesian teams,
especially the senior national side which is 129th in the world
rankings.
The three-month old breakaway league has attracted teams
from the PSSI-supported Indonesia Super League (ISL), a host of
southeast Asian players and former England international Lee
Hendrie.
Despite a huge football-mad population, Indonesia's only World
Cup appearance was in pre-independence days in 1938 as the Dutch
East Indies and is not recognised by the PSSI.
Indonesia have only played four times at the Asian Cup,
going out at the first hurdle every time, and its clubs have
never reached an Asian Champions League Final.