T

he newly appointed normalization committee of the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) has set a date of May 20 for an assembly to elect its next chairman, deputy chairman and members of the executive committee for the 2011-2015 period.

“We have yet to decide on the congress location. We’re still in discussions with vote holders,” the chairman of the normalization committee Agum Gumelar told a press conference at the PSSI offices on Wednesday.

The interim body, which held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday, also announced that congress participants would be allowed to submit candidate names from April 12 to 17, with the verification process taking place the next five days and the appeal process from April 22 to 27.

Agum said that the main task of his team was to host the assembly before May 21 as instructed by FIFA; regain control or discharge the breakaway Indonesian Premier League (LPI); and conduct the daily duties of the association as FIFA has disbanded the current officials — under Nurdin Halid’s leadership — due to a lack of credibility.

Committee member Joko Driyono said that invitations for the assembly would be delivered to vote holders on April 22.

“However, regarding the ongoing tournament in the main division, we will hold a special validation of the 39 soccer clubs of this division,” said Joko, who is CEO of PT Liga Indonesia. “The invitation distribution for participants in the main division will be conducted on May 1,” Joko said.

In order to avoid possible invitation-related disputes during the congress, the committee asked each participant to send confirmation of their attendance a week prior to the event, Joko said.

As for the existence of the LPI, Agum said he would host a hearing with the Indonesian League Body (BLI) as well as the initiator of the new league.

“I believe after the hearing we will have a better understanding in order to make a perfect decision in solving the LPI matter. We will determine the time and place of the hearing in due time,” said Agum, the PSSI chief from 1998 to 2003. Agum refused to make a reckless decision on the LPI.

For the national soccer body’s regular tasks, Agum requested all parties that have been involved to continue their role in the production of the Indonesian Super League, the development of the under-21 players and tournaments of the pre-2012 National Sports Weeks (PON).

“That is why I never agreed with the idea of PSSI officials packing up their stuff from the association’s office. We need their help to get things done. From now on, the PSSI is the office for all,” Agum said.

On all of the three main jobs, Agum promised to hold a periodic announcement of any given update.

“We will keep our promise to make all processes within this committee transparent and accessible to the public,” he added.