Rejecting Jordi Amat's Naturalization, DPR Commission X: There Are Indications Of Transfer Of Citizenship To Facilitate Transfers To The JDT Club

Jordi Amat (right) and Sandy Walsh (left) undergo their first training with the Indonesian national team in Bandung, Friday 27 May). (PSSI doc)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives Commission X, Syaiful Huda, firmly rejected the naturalization process for a new player from a football club from Malaysia, Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) Jordi Amat. He considered that there was something odd about Jordi Amat's naturalization process.

The Spanish player is said to have suddenly declared himself an Indonesian citizen (WNI) and decided to move to the Malaysian JDT club. In fact, from the information he received, the administrative process for Jordi Amat to become an Indonesian citizen has not been completed. "There are indications that the process of changing Jordi's citizenship is only to facilitate his move to the JDT club. Because the foreign player slots for JDT are only left for players from Asia/Asean. This is what I strongly criticize," said Syaiful, Friday, July 1. On the other hand, the rejection is also based on the idea that the naturalization of soccer players must be really selective. Because according to Syaiful, none of the naturalized players have made achievements for Indonesia.

"If we refer to the data, it has been 12 years since we have naturalized football players, there are at least 36 naturalized players who play for our National Team. But the fact is that not a single proud achievement has been successfully carved, even though it is in the gold class of the Sea Games or winning the AFF Cup, "said Syaiful.

The PKB politician revealed that the process of naturalization of soccer players began to blow fast when Cristian Gonzales decided to pledge himself to become an Indonesian citizen in 2010. "The increasing level of the national team's game due to the entry of Cristian Gonzales has finally made the public more permissive of the naturalization process sponsored by PSSI. Without realizing it, there are 36 foreign players that we have legitimized as Indonesian citizens and in fact they have not contributed optimally to the achievements of our national football team," he said.

Therefore, Syaiful wants naturalization to be placed in the right substance. Naturalized players must have a special position as players who have more experience and abilities than local players. “I look at it from the side of sports governance. There have been 36 naturalized football players, but our football achievements are still so-so. This means that the naturalization policy, which is believed to achieve fast performance, needs to be reviewed," he said.

Huda emphasized that he was not against the naturalization process of football players for the sake of the national team's achievements. However, he said, the system and roadmap of the naturalization process needed to be finalized, so that it could be measured how successful the naturalization was carried out by the Indonesian national team. "Don't let naturalization go on sale without adequate evidence of achievement, or worse, naturalization will only be used as a business cover for certain individuals to make it easier for foreign players to earn a living in Indonesia," he concluded. two soccer players who plan to become naturalized players. The two are Jordi Amat Maas and Sandy Walsh.

Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, said that the application for citizenship for Jordi was contained in the Letter of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Number R26 dated June 17, 2022.

"Regarding the application for consideration of granting citizenship to the Republic of Indonesia on behalf of Jordi Amat Maas," Dasco said at the DPR Plenary Meeting, Thursday, June 30.

Meanwhile for Sandy Walsh, it is stated in the Letter of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Number R27 dated June 17, 2022.

"R27 dated June 17 regarding the application for consideration of granting Indonesian citizenship to Sandy Walsh," said Dasco.