Acting Sports Minister Says PSSI, KPSI Must Meet FIFA's Dec. 10 Deadline
Tunggadewa Mattangkilang | December 08, 2012
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Acting Sports Minister Agung Laksono on Saturday said Indonesia?s two rival football leagues must meet FIFA?s imposed deadline to settle their differences by Dec. 10.
The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) and the breakaway Football Savior Committee (KPSI) signed a memorandum of understanding in Kuala Lumpur in June to settle their disputes by Dec. 10, but following the resignation of Andi Mallarangeng as Indonesia?s youth and sports affairs minister on Friday, PSSI asked FIFA for a one-month extension to the deadline.
But Agung, whom the president immediately appointed as acting sports minister, said both PSSI and KPSI had to stick with the set deadline.
?We return to the deal, because the deal will unite all the existing components,? Agung, also the coordinating minister for people?s welfare, said after a meeting in Balikpapan on Saturday.
?No more fights, no more group interests. KPSI and PSSI signed the MoU, which is meant to settle the disputes. Respect that, otherwise our sports sector will suffer. Let go of your personal interests, make [national interests] our priority,? he added.
Agung said FIFA would prohibit Indonesia from participating in international football events if the rival organizations failed to meet the deadline.
But PSSI secretary-general Halim Mahfudz has downplayed the threat of sanctions, saying PSSI was not concerned with them and that the MoU was not in line with either FIFA or PSSI regulations.
?If we ... get sanctioned, we can easily appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports,? Halim said on Thursday.
The MoU signed in June stated that four expelled members of the PSSI Executive Committee will be reinstated, the Indonesian Super League will come under PSSI jurisdiction, KPSI will be dissolved after the next PSSI congress and the PSSI Joint Committee will be established.
The MoU also said that the parties agreed to hold a PSSI congress by the end of 2012, which was earlier scheduled to discuss two main agendas: the PSSI statutes revision and the creation of one league.
The rivalry between PSSI and KPSI recently came under public scrutiny again, as it was deemed by many as a contributing factor for the death of Paraguayan footballer Diego Mendieta.
Mendieta died on Monday night from a viral infection, reports said, adding he was owed four months? salary of about 120 million rupiah ($12,500) and was unable to pay for treatment or fly home.
Mendieta, 32, was a striker for Persis Solo, a football club of the Central Java town of Solo, which is part of the Indonesian Super League managed by the KPSI.
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