FIFA to rule on Indonesian elections on May 31 - report

Posted Sunday, May 22, 2011 by

FIFA will decide on any necessary action against the strife-torn Indonesian football association (PSSI) during their congress on May 31 after chaotic scenes brought a halt to the PSSI leadership elections.

The FIFA-appointed normalisation committee head Agum Gumelar stopped the PSSI congress on Friday after six hours without a new leader elected after some opponents of former chairman Nurdin Halid broke in to the meeting.

Gumelar also had members attempting to grab his microphone and struggled to deal with the majority of voters who were demanding the reinstatement of two leadership candidates, George Toisutta and Arifin Panigoro, banned by FIFA [ID:nL4E7GK2FB].

“We will immediately write a report (of the congress) and send it to FIFA. The world federation will make its decision based on the report,” Gumelar was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post newspaper on Sunday.

“FIFA and its representatives had directly explained its banning of George and Arifin (during the congress). We, as the holder of FIFA mandate, will certainly take its decision as our guidance.”

Gumelar conceded that FIFA observers Thierry Regenass and Frank van Hattum were not impressed by what they saw at Friday’s meeting and hoped the world governing body would be lenient.

“I asked them not to let FIFA sanction us because we all know the serious impact that we might incur. They said that they were disappointed with the behaviour of the congress participants and they felt embarrassed at how the participants defamed FIFA as well as PSSI.

“However, let’s just wait and see on May (31)”, Gumelar added.

FIFA had warned Indonesia previously that they could face a suspension. A ban could jeopardise their participation in the second round of 2014 World Cup Asian qualifying where they are scheduled to face Turkmenistan over two legs at the end of July.