BNPT Will Assessment GBK And Hotels In Jakarta For The U-20 World Cup Even Though Drawing Is Canceled

The 2023 U-20 World Cup in Indonesia. (Photo: PSSI)

JAKARTA - The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) will conduct an assessment of the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium and hotels in Jakarta which are planned to be the venue for the U-20 World Cup participants. Although, currently FIFA has canceled the U-20 World Cup drawing in Bali. This was revealed by Deputy I for Prevention, Protection, and Deradicalization of BNPT, Major General TNI Tombstone Setiadi after meeting the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono. "In the near future, for the FIFA U20 event, we will assess the GBK stadium which will be used for the U-20 World Cup, including several hotels that will be occupied by them," said Tombstone at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Tuesday, March 28. Tombstone explained that the assessment of GBK and hotels where U-20 World Cup participants were staying was carried out by checking the minimum standards of security and terror alertness. BNPT cooperates with the Police in this assessment. "The assessment anticipates how these places and facilities meet the minimum standard requirements that must be held, the facilities and infrastructure, CCTV, and so on," he said. With this assessment plan, Tombstone emphasized that his party still hopes that the U-20 World Cup will continue to be held in Indonesia. BNPT, he said, did not want to polemic the issue of the rejection of the arrival of the Israeli national team. "We still expect the U-20 World Cup to be held in Indonesia," said Tombstone. Indonesia has been designated as the host of the 2023 U-20 World Cup. The Israeli national team as one of the participants will appear in the U-20 World Cup event. In this event, the government has designated six provinces as places of implementation, namely DKI Jakarta, South Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and Bali. Ahead of the event, there was a refusal from Bali Governor I Wayan Koster to submit a letter to the Minister of Youth and Sports containing the rejection of the Israeli national team to compete in Bali in the U-20 World Cup on March 14, 2023. Following, the rejection of Israel's return came from the Governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo and the Mayor of Bengkulu Helmi Hasan. Helmi Hasan emphasized that he refused to participate in the U-20 World Cup in Indonesia because the country was a colonialist. Meanwhile, Ganjar Pranowo revealed that he was following President Soekarno's mandate which was committed to providing support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate himself. This rejection also made FIFA finally decide to cancel the drawing agenda which was actually held in Bali, March 31. Currently, PSSI is lobbying a number of institutions to find solutions to overcome the rejection of Israel at the 2023 U-20 World Cup.