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Jakarta Post

Fixing match fixing

Indonesian soccer has never been free from match-fixing scams.

Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, December 14, 2018

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Fixing match fixing Indonesian soccer has never been free from match-fixing scams. (Shutterstock/File)

K

eeping soccer clean of match fixing is second to impossible and as difficult as removing gambling from the Earth. The latest case of match fixing is not the first to have plagued the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI), and likely not the last.

Earlier this month, the PSSI’s disciplinary committee penalized Hidayat, a member of its executive committee, after finding him guilty of attempting to bribe Madura FC coach Januar Herwanto. Hidayat was punished with a three-year ban from any soccer-related activities and a Rp 150 million (US$10,400) fine. He had resigned two days before the punishment was announced.

Indonesian soccer has never been free from match-fixing scams. The PSSI sentenced PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang players to a life-time ban in October 2014 for a deliberate attempt to lose in order to avoid Borneo FC in the semifinals of the second division league. A year earlier, Bontang FC’s Guinean manager Camara Fode was banned for life after being found guilty of ordering his team to lose its match against PSLS Lhokseumawe. Players from both teams received a 24-month suspension.

The national team was once accused of ceding to the wishes of an international gambling syndicate by losing their playoff match for the bronze medal against Vietnam at the SEA Games in 2015. Indonesia lost 5-0 in the match, a well predicted score according to a phone conversation played in a PSSI hearing held to probe the case.

The national soccer body has moved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate a bribery attempt involving Hidayat, the results of which will be unveiled during the association’s congress this January. 

PSSI deputy chairman Joko Driyono said, however, that the association would go further. The scandal, he said, would provide the momentum for the PSSI to eradicate the practice, which has proven to imperil the value of sportsmanship. The committee, in cooperation with the PSSI, will draft new strategies to fight match fixing, with a clear division of labor: The committee will focus on outside influences, while the PSSI will look at players inside the association.

Match fixing is a clear and present danger to sports everywhere but hard to beat, because of the power of money behind it. The PSSI, as well as other sports bodies, needs help from other parties, particularly the police, because match fixing usually is connected with gambling and fraud.

The PSSI should listen to advice from law expert and former detective Benny Mamoto, who used to be active in sports organizations. Benny suggested that the PSSI report alleged perpetrators of match fixing to the police, so that the law can be enforced against them. 

The PSSI has so far opted to settle match-fixing cases internally, a mechanism that may lack a deterrent effect. Match fixing is clearly a crime, as it involves bribes, and jail sentences for anyone convicted of committing it can force others to think twice about following suit.

Nevertheless, the PSSI is now putting its credibility on the line. Its failure to take the hardest action against those behind match fixing will deprive it of the public trust — its most valuable asset.

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