March 18 – Indonesia’s top football administrator, Nurdin Halid (pictured), is to be asked to explain to the country’s lawmkers how the country can be more successful on the international stage.
Halid, the chairman of the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI), has been ordered to appear next month before a public hearing of the House of Representatives’ Commission X, which oversees sports, youth affairs, tourism and culture in the country.
Utut Adianto, a member of the Commission, said: ”The Commission will invite Nurdin Halid for a public hearing after April 9 as we are still on a recess term.
“We also will wait for the recommendations made at the upcoming [national football] congress in Malang.”
Utut was referring to a planned national congress, scheduled for March 30-31 in East Java’s town of Malang, organised by the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) in cooperation with the Youth and Sports Ministry and the National Sports Council (KONI).
The congress was first suggested by President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono last month, with the main agenda being to draft a set of recommendations to the PSSI to reform itself - including the removal of Nurdin.
The organisers said they planned to submit the recommendations also to FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Nurdin, who won his second term in office, from 2007 to 2011, amid controversy over the fact that he had served two years in prison on corruption charges - a violation to FIFA statutes - has long been seen as the man behind a string of failures.
The most recent ones were the national team’s first-time failure in 14 years to advance to the Asian Cup finals, the under-23 team’s failure in advancing from the qualifying stage in South East Asian Games in Laos, as well as the youth team’s failure to qualify for the under-19 Asian Cup.
The Government have cited as one of the reasons for their refusal to back the country’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup the fear of the national team being embarrassed in the unlikely event they were chosen to host it.
The country have only qualified for the finals of the World Cup on one occasion, in 1938 when the country was known as the Dutch East Indies and they lost 6-0 in their only match to eventual finalists Hungary.
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