Not PSSI His Name If No Drama

PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir (central) took a photo with his deputy, Zainudin Amali (left) and Ratu Tisha (right). (Twitter Erick Thohir)

JAKARTA - A national football observer, Kesit Budi Handoyo, wonders why dramas could appear in the PSSI Extraordinary Congress (KLB) at the Shangri-La Hotel, Central Jakarta on February 16. The drama occurred during the election of PSSI's deputy chairman.

A number of voters protested with vote count results that won Zainudin Amali with 66 votes and Yunus Nusi with 63 votes. Voters asked to reopen the ballot paper because of alleged manipulation.

There are names of vice-chairman candidates who are said to have been written by the voters but did not come out. Rumors emerged that the ballot box before opening had been taken where first, don't know if it's true or not," said Kesit to VOI on February 17, 2023.

The election of PSSI's deputy general chairman was finally repeated. As it turned out, the results were much different. Queen Tisha got 54 votes and Yunus Nusi 53 votes. Meanwhile, Zainudin Amali, who is also the current Minister of Youth and Sports, is only in third place with 44 votes.

This means that there is something, there is counting manipulation. From the experience I have seen and followed, there has never been a repeat due to miscalculation," said Kesit.

So, it is natural to have suspicions. Moreover, when he saw Yunus Nusi's step, who deliberately resigned so that Zainudin Amali could step up to replace him as deputy chairman of PSSI.

Likewise, Queen Thasha, who was supposed to be vice chairman of 1 and Zainudin Amali, vice chairman of 2, even exchanged positions.

"Why? Is it because Yunus Nusi is Zainudin Amali's success team? So he feels bad, so he resigns. Or maybe there is pressure, how come the minister loses. It seems that Zainudin Amali's position was forced, so the waketum was not because he won but because of giving, "said Kesit.

Yunus Nusi in a press conference after the KLB also considered Zainudin Amali more qualified to become PSSI's deputy general chairman.

"He has given the best for football and sports in Indonesia. Three years I have been with him, I know exactly his sincerity in advancing Indonesian football," said Yunus.

But, said Kesit, "Yes, never mind. We'll see what PSSI will do in the future. I congratulate Mr. Erick Thohir who was elected as the General Chair of PSSI. What is certain is that a tough task awaits," he added.

According to Kesit, Erick Thohir of course has received a lot of input regarding the various problems that are currently hitting PSSI. As a professional, he understands what to do.

The toughest task is to restore public trust in PSSI. Erick Thohir, said Kesit, must provide a priority scale on what improvements must take precedence.

People when talking about PSSI, must see the national team. This is a good step. However, don't give sweet promises that we can win the SEA Games, we can win the AFF. We are worried that people will have high expectations but in the end it will not be achieved because our foundation is still weak," said Kesit.

Development is still not effective, the competition is the same. Likewise, technically qualified human resources.

How many professional trainers do we have, the young coach we have, who is in accordance with his competence. Not to mention talking about referees. But if for example he is quite sure he can do it, he said.

Even though he was a bit hesitant, he still hoped that Erick Thohir would be able to provide the best for PSSI.

"We have to remain optimistic. I am only a little worried with a concurrent position. Will he be able to focus later. There are already a lot of SOE affairs, now he must also handle PSSI which also has a lot of problems. What kind of commitment will he be? I really want Mr. Erick to resign from the Minister of SOEs? " he said.

Because, historically, a number of PSSI general chairmen who have concurrent positions, both as TNI, Polri officials, politicians have not been able to bring better changes to Indonesian football as a whole.

"As a leadership capability, the majority is quite capable. But the reality is we have to be honest. This means that no one is focused on managing football, the concentration tends to break," he said.

"I hope that when Mr. Erick enters the office officially, he is not surprised when he sees the factual," Kesit added.

In addition to the general chairman and his deputy, KLB PSSI 2023 has also appointed 12 people who were elected as executive commitments (Exco). Six of them were members of Exco PSSI for the previous period.

Namely Endri Erawan, Juni Rachman, Pieter Tanuri, Ahmad Riyadh, Hasnuryadi Sulaiman, and Vivin Cahyani.

Meanwhile, Sumardji was once the manager of the Indonesian national team and COO Bhayangkara FC.

The other Exco PSSI are Eko Setiawan from Farmel FC and Muhammad who once served as manager of the PSMP team Mojokerto Putra.

The last three are Arya Mahendra Sinulingga (special staff of the Minister of SOEs), Khairul Anwar (football legal expert), and Rudi Yulianto (football security expert).

According to Kesit, there are several names that have poor track records in Indonesian football.

"At first I thought, there were many new faces. Because of this, the presence of new people can at least give a little hope in the apriori Indonesian football community. If there are new faces, people will definitely see more hope. But when old people appear again, the old stigma will emerge. What happened later, ah he said, people were already apriori first, "said Kesit.

"It's just that Mr. Erick can not give directions so that they work even better, then can silence the public's fear which states that they are not capable. Indeed, the task is heavy, not only fixing the technical, but also fixing human resources," added Kesit emphasized.

In his tweet on February 16, 2023, Erick Thohir expressed his gratitude for the mandate of voters and the support of football lovers.

No win yet today. Victory is when the national team excels, supporters can safely watch their favorite team, the quality of referees and coaches increases, and Indonesian football can be clean and accomplished.

Does Erick Thohir really have the guts to clean PSSI from dirty hands like his statement when he signed up as PSSI General Chair on January 15 last?