Tempers did not flare and no serious incidents were reported after Indonesia lost the 2010 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup to Malaysia on Wednesday night.

Soccer fans were seen leaving the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan, Jakarta, in somber and subdued moods.

Some forlorn supporters had left the vicinity after Safee Sali scored Malaysia’s only goal in the match’s 54th minute.

Rosalinda, who left with her son and her sister after the goal, could not conceal her disappointment.
“I just don’t know what to say. I think I just lost my spirit,” said the resident of Depok, West Java.

Others left even earlier. Some said they were overheated by the packed stadium; some said that Indonesia’s chances of winning had evaporated after the team only managed a draw at the end of the first half.

Supporters who stayed until the end could — finally — savor Indonesia’s 2-1 victory. But it was not enough to deny Malaysia the AFF Cup.

“It is true that we lost the Cup, but I can say that we didn’t lose our dignity. I’m very proud with how our team played,” Alberto, 19, another supporter, said.

As the homeward exodus of tens of thousands of Indonesian supporters began, the streets outside Bung Karno Stadium quickly became clogged.

Public minivans hired by Indonesian supporters haphazardly blocked the road used by cars and motorbike to exit the stadium.

The Indonesian team’s defeat only strengthened the popular conviction that Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chairman Nurdin Halid was somehow responsible.

Disappointed fans sported banners calling on Nurdin to resign. Some banners were large enough to be captured on camera and broadcast to viewers throughout Southeast Asia.

A minor scuffle erupted when hooligans vented their anger at President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono by throwing bottles of mineral water at the presidential car, which was parked in a VVIP spot.

However, most fans remained even-keeled. Outside the stadium, fans traveling by foot, motorcycle and public minivan were heard to chant repeatedly: “We don’t need to riot. It’s no use.”

During the match, fans kept each other in check by chanting “Tenang, duduk lagi” (sit down and relax) whenever hooligans threw bottles of mineral water at spectators.

The match’s only casualties were two Indonesian supporters who were rushed to Mintohardjo Naval Hospital for health problems.

More than 80,000 soccer fans were at Bung Karno Stadium for the final match. Thousands more gathered outside to watching the match on jumbotrons set up by the PSSI.

The area around the stadium complex was teeming with red-clad soccer fans before the match, some of whom had come from as far as Bandung, West Java, Surabaya, East Java, and even Medan in North Sumatra.

Most out-of-town soccer fans traveled to Jakarta by train. State railway company PT Kereta Api (KA) said trains from Bandung were running at over 100 percent capacity before the match, up from the weekday average of 70 percent.  

“The Parahyangan Train leaving at 6:30 a.m. from Bandung was at 103 percent capacity. We recorded even more passengers for trains scheduled to depart after 6:30 a.m.,” KA Bandung region spokesman Bambang Setyo Prayitno said.

KA had added eight train cars to its Bandung-Jakarta line to accommodate more passengers on Wednesday, he added.

Supporters throughout the stadium sang the national soccer anthem Garuda di Dadaku, or “The Garuda on My Chest”, after the Indonesian squad arrived at the stadium on a PSSI bus at 5:10 p.m.

The Malaysian squad arrived at the stadium just minutes earlier, transported across the city by five National Police bomb squad vehicles.

The situation was tense before the match, after hundreds of hooligans, upset with the PSSI’s slow sales of tickets, broke into the stadium on Sunday and mobbed ticketing officials.

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