Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino is scheduled to visit Indonesia on October 18, 2022 as part of efforts to guide the national football transformation process.
“The FIFA president will visit here on October 18 to meet Mr President Joko Widodo to agree on several things. We hope the meeting will yield good results,” State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said in a written statement released in Jakarta on Saturday .
FIFA will se t up an office in Indonesia to ensure that the Indonesian football transformation process will run well, he said.
Thohir said he cannot ascertain how long the FIFA office in Indonesia will be.”I don’t know how long it will be. As long as the transformation (team) they have set up works, it will be three months, six months or forever,” he said.
The good intentiion of FIFA and the Indonesian government to improve the national football is worthy of praise, he said.
The effort is a golden chance for Indonesia to improve its football management so that it needs support from all sides, including football clubs, fans, security agencies and television stations, he said.
“If we want transformation it must be comprehensive,” he said.
The minister said the October 1, 2022, stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java’s Malang district has become cause for major concern.
“It must not happen again. It is a very formidable lesson for the Indonesian fooball and nation,” he said.
He said the Kanjuruhan tragedy must not happen to any sport events. Therefore, Indonesia must take a lesson from the tragedy and make it a momentum to improve the football management in the country.
On October 1 night, thousands of Arema FC supporters were left trapped in Kanjuruhan Stadium after some supporters stormed the pitch following the team’s 2-3 loss to Persebaya Surabaya. In response, police fired tear gas, triggering a stampede.
In a press statement issued on October 2, East Java Regional Police chief, Inspector General Nico Afinta, said that Arema FC supporters were disappointed by the match’s outcome and so they stormed the pitch to confront players and officials.
According to Afinta, tear gas was fired because the angry supporters could have endangered the football players and officials.
“Because of the tear gas, they rushed to an exit point and triggered a stamped as they suffered shortness of breath, lack of oxygen,” he said.
According to data from the Malang District Health Office, the Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy left 131people dead, 440 people lightly injured, and 29 people seriously injured.
In response to the tragedy, President Joko Widodo formed a joint independent fact-finding team (TGIPF) comprising 13 members. Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD was made the chairperson of the team and Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali its deputy head.
The team has been asked to complete its probe into the tragedy in one month’s time.
Meanwhile, the National Police have named six suspects in the incident, including three police personnel. The three other suspects are from the football match’s organizing committee: PT Liga Indonesia Baru president director, chief of Arema FC’s organizing committee, and a security guard at Kanjuruhan stadium.
Source: Antara News