S

ports Minister Imam Nahrawi looks to have secured an extra-time reprieve in his bid to maintain the suspension of the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) despite the threat by world soccer'€™s governing body FIFA to ban the country from all international competitions if the government sanction was not lifted by Friday.

On the sidelines of the FIFA meeting on Wednesday Swiss police arrested seven top officials of the soccer body at the request of the US Department of Justice, which had indicted them and seven other people of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The arrests were immediately followed by the Swiss prosecutors'€™ investigation into alleged bribery related to FIFA'€™s vote for Russia and Qatar as the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts respectively.

The US is attempting to extradite the suspects, who will to face allegations that they '€œarranged bribes at meetings on US soil, employed the US banking system in conveying the bribes and created documents to cloak their activity,'€ according to US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Indeed, FIFA has long been mired in scandals but surprisingly no criminal probes had been launched against any of its officials until the US set a precedent. Being the world'€™s most popular sport, soccer is a lucrative business that in 2010-2014 alone earned FIFA US$5.7 billion, mostly from broadcasting rights and marketing of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

For many, the ongoing and upcoming investigations into FIFA executives have cost the soccer body its credibility, which will be difficult to restore without radical reforms. The major overhaul should therefore include facilitating law enforcement in investigating the scandals, rather than sweeping them under the carpet.

Many national soccer federations are not immune from alleged fraud, including the PSSI. This is why Imam insists that the suspension should be the impetus to instigate measures to restore order in the national soccer body.

'€œThe fruit never falls far from the tree,'€ Imam quoted an Indonesian proverb when commenting on the latest corruption scandal to have dogged FIFA. Clearly he was referring to PSSI, whose top executives are attending the FIFA meeting in Zurich.

Imam'€™s desire for major changes in the PSSI deserves support as the soccer body has consistently failed to raise the country'€™s game, even in the Southeast Asian region. Indonesian soccer, however, is too big to fail if FIFA imposes a ban on Friday. The ban would adversely affect thousands of people who have been making a living from the sport, ranging from players to vendors selling food and drinks around stadiums. The country'€™s bid to excel in soccer will be hindered, at least for a while.

Instead of reform, the red card for the PSSI has resulted in a controversy that has distanced the minister from his noble goal. Worse, the issue appears to have dragged President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla into a confrontation.

Good sportsmanship and team-playing is all that we expect from the government and the PSSI alike.