Malaysian Written Apology For Persecution Of Indonesian Supporters

Menpora Malaysia Syed Saddiq (Instagram @syedsaddiq)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora) Malaysia finally sent a written apology to Indonesia. This is related to the persecution of Garuda Team supporters ahead of the match against Malaysia in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, 19 November 2019.

The Youth Minister and Sukan Syed Saddiq Bin Syed Abdul Rahman officially sent a letter to the Indonesian government, in this case the Ministry of Youth and Sports, last Saturday. The letter refers to the Kemenpora protest note number 11.22.12 / SET / XI / 2019 dated 22 November 2019 and was immediately signed by Saddiq

Referring to the press release received by VOI on Sunday, December 15, the letter also stated that the Malaysian Government had submitted a report of what happened to an Indonesian citizen to the Malaysian Police. Syed Saddiq asked the police to immediately thoroughly investigate the matter by asking for information from the victim so that the alleged perpetrator could be immediately prosecuted without discrimination.

As a conclusion to the letter, Saddiq hopes that the incident will not worsen the good relations between the two countries. For the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the presence of the reply letter is sufficient as a concrete indication of the Malaysian Government's good faith to resolve the problem because it has fulfilled a written apology, even though at first it was only a verbal apology and it was only conveyed via social media on November 24.

However, as committed by the Malaysian Government, it is hoped that the legal process will continue and for that both the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor and provide assistance.

Kemenpora hopes that the polemic that occurs will end soon and the feud between supporters when the two teams play will not repeat itself both in Indonesia and in Malaysia. The two countries, involving elements of government officials, football federations and representatives of supporters will immediately sit together to discuss efforts to minimize destructive things in the future.