PSSI Lays 43 Employees, Media And Engineering Disbanded, The Fate Of World Cup Qualification Is Threatened?

PSSI General Chair, ERICK Thohir (left) and FIFA President Gianni Infantino (photo: ig @erickthohir)

PSSI was reported to have terminated 43 employees last week. The media and engineering fields, even disbanded all of them. This is known from the statement of the PSSI Media Director, Eko Rahmawanto, who was also the victim of the layoffs of the highest football organization in the country.

A total of 43 employees are laid off. In the media and engineering sector, all disbanded. Until now I do not know who will be replaced by anyone, or it is possible that Mahaka people will be filled," Eko told VOI, Monday, September 2.

This condition certainly raises a question mark on how the match committee will be held for the 2024 World Cup Qualification match between Indonesia and Australia on 10 September.

"I myself don't know who will handle the match. Maybe GSI (Indonesian Football Garuda) will handle it," added Eko.

GSI itself is led by Marshal Irwan Masita, as Managing Director of GSI. "The point is that currently marketing and national team affairs are managed by them (GSI). Starting from merchandise, clothes, national team coverage. This has been going on for about a year and a half," said Eko.

According to Eko, all national team coverage is now being handled by GSI. Meanwhile, PSSI's Media Sector, which includes the Media Director, only covers news about corporate, Letter Cup, and League 3.

Of the 43 people who were laid off, according to Eko, almost all of them were PSSI employees. "Maybe there are only about 10 interns," said Eko.

Meanwhile, for compensation or severance pay itself, Eko admitted that it was not clear, because it was different for each employee. "Many do not want to speak because they may fear that the severance pay will not be paid," explained Eko.

Eko said that the reason for the layoffs itself was not clear. Even Erick Thohir, the General Chair of PSSI, never explained this in a gaming manner. Yes, there are many non-technical reasons actually in this layoff. He (Erick) seems to want to include his people. Then they did a kind of assessment, to choose his employees. From the assessment itself, some of them did not participate. This is strange. Because of the people He (Erick) did not participate in this assessment," said Eko.

Employees who are in the financial and procurement department, according to Eko, did not participate in the assessment. "This assessment is strange. The standard is unclear," added Eko.

According to Eko, what is very unfortunate is that the payment of BPJS Manpower contributions for PSSI employees in the amount of 112 has not been paid since December 2021 until now, or finally when PSSI was led by Muchamad Iriawan or Iwan Bule. "The last payment is November 1, 2021," said Eko.

Eko also stated that the PSSI Executive Committee itself tends to break up, where there are exco groups led by Erick, Peter Tanuri and Arya Sinulingga. "Then there is another block that doesn't dare to speak up, and then there is a block that dares to speak up like June Rachman and Eko Setiawan," said Eko.

Another problem also arose when there were protests from the Dutch embassy, where there were naturalized players who did not return their old passports. This adds to the routine of affairs at PSSI related to the naturalization program until now.

VOI itself has tried to contact the Secretary General of PSSI, Yunus Nusi, to confirm this issue. However, Yunus has not replied to the phone call and short message sent by VOI.

This kind of layoff is not the first time PSSI has done this. In the previous period, or if there was a change of chairman, this organization often fired or replaced its employees which led to disputes.