FIFA and AFC recommend PSSI hold ‘ordinary’ meeting

The Indonesian Soccer Rescuing Committee (KPSI) has again encouraged the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) to hold an extraordinary congress, rather than an ordinary congress as requested by the FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, to end a protracted disagreement over the PSSI’s leadership.

In a letter sent to the PSSI dated Jan. 13 and signed by AFC general-secretary Alex Soosay and FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke, both soccer governing bodies recommended that an ordinary meeting be held, and did not mention anything about the proposed extraordinary congress.

The letter stated among other thing: “We wish to advise that given the information submitted by you, FIFA and AFC are not in a position to comment on the validity of the request.

“We do however refer you to article 29 [1] of the PSSI statutes, which provides that the PSSI shall convene an Ordinary Congress each year. According to the information at our disposal the last PSSI Ordinary Congress was held on 22 January 2011 in Bali, approximately one year ago.

“In view of the above and considering the ongoing problems facing Indonesian football, FIFA and AFC strongly recommend that the PSSI convene as soon as possible an Ordinary Congress to ensure compliance with its statutes and to provide a forum for resolution. We also remind you of the deadline set in our letter dated December 21, 2011 and further advice that the Ordinary Congress be held before March 20, 2012 to avoid the referral to the FIFA Associations Committee for possible sanction.”

The letter is a response to a report made by the PSSI on Jan. 11 to the soccer world’s governing body on the request to convene an extraordinary meeting congress by supposedly more than two thirds of the PSSI members.

The PSSI said in their letter that following a verification process, PSSI had concluded that the request was made by 320 of 588 PSSI members, less than the two-thirds majority required under article 31 of the PSSI statutes to force an extraordinary congress.

The letter has put the PSSI at ease about continuing with their initial plan to hold an ordinary congress. PSSI spokesman Eddy Elison said that the association had been focusing on preparation for an ordinary congress, which was set to be held on March 18.

“The point is that we’ve decided the date for the annual congress, which is expected by FIFA and AFC [Asian Football Confederation]. We will determine the place later on,” Eddy told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

In response to the FIFA and AFC letter, KPSI chief Tony Aprilani said: “The letter said nothing about an extraordinary meeting. As you can see both FIFA and AFC were not in a position to comment on it.”

“So, we’ll stick to our plan. We will hold a pre-congress meeting at Swiss-Belhotel in Mangga Besar [in Central Jakarta] on Jan. 21-22, to see if it is possible to convene our kind of annual congress.”

The KPSI pre-congress, said Tony, was designed to reconcile the parties in the conflict. “We will invite all 575 members of the PSSI, including [chief] Djohar Arifin [Husin]. As FIFA and AFC has told us: Find a solution.”

KPSI is an opposition group that was formed by 457 members of the PSSI during a so-called grand meeting at Pullman Hotel in West Jakarta on Dec. 18, 2011.

The group has demanded that the PSSI hold an extraordinary congress in order to oust PSSI chairman Djohar, who they deem to have made decisions that “violate PSSI statutes.”

One of Djohar’s controversial decisions was allowing 24 clubs to participate in the PSSI-sanctioned Indonesia Premier League, while the statutes limit the league to 18 teams.