DPR Leadership Asks BWF For Open Clarification About Indonesian Team Forced To Resign From All England

JAKARTA - Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian Parliament Azis Syamsuddin has encouraged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) to urge the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to clarify in detail the case of the Indonesian team being forced to withdraw from the All England tournament.

"BWF must clarify openly why Indonesia was ordered to resign without clear reasons and evidence!" Said Azis Syamsuddin, Friday, March 19.

According to him, if the forced withdrawal was due to one of the passengers who was confirmed positive for COVID-19, then the organizers should have done the same for all state contingents on the plane.

"The committee should have summoned all countries to stay in the airport area first, waiting for participants from other countries to come and carry out the PCR swab test as a whole, that's fairer," said Azis.

According to Azis, BWF's attitude is very unsportsmanlike when viewed from the distance of the announcement made to Turkish athlete Neslihan Yigit to withdraw from All England because of one plane with the Indonesian team.

In addition, he said, the National Health Service (NHS), which is a public health service in Great Britain, must also explain the results of the examination to the Indonesian team.

The Golkar politician assessed that the NHS must be able to prove the identity of the person who was positive for COVID-19 on the plane when the Indonesian team headed to All England.

"Don't just speculate and give the impression that you want Indonesia to resign," said Azis.