Persija Jakarta’s success in claiming the President’s Cup trophy was marred after the Gelora Bung Karno main stadium was vandalized on Saturday night.

The act was allegedly perpetrated by soccer fans who celebrated the victory of the capital’s soccer club in the pre-season tournament.

Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports complex director Winarto said gates 7 and 9, seven boards attached to the fence that separates spectators from the pitch area, as well as the gardens were damaged.

There were reportedly about 70,000 spectators at the stadium on Saturday night.

Winarto said the total cost of the damages was less than Rp 100 million (US$7,371).

“We’re really concerned about the incident. In the future, I hope the soccer fans will act better; they have to know how to help preserve the GBK,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Winarto also noticed that the main stadium was surrounded by trash after the match. “But we worked quickly. By 2.30 a.m. [on Sunday], the area was clean again.”

He said the event organizers had taken fully responsible for the incident because it had deposited a Rp 1.5 billion guarantee.

“The organizer has been really cooperative in settling this matter. The guarantee money is Rp 1.5 billion, while the cost of damages is less than Rp 100 million. Everything’s OK,” added Winarto.

Contractor Adi Karya, which handles the renovation at the main stadium, is set to immediately fix the mess.

“The contractor said the repair work will be done by Wednesday,” Winarto said.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno slammed the soccer fans who acted irresponsibly in the President’s Cup final, where Persija outwitted Bali United 3-0 to claim the title.

“If we have a stadium of an international standard but [the soccer fans] are not well-behaved, then we’re not going anywhere,” Sandiaga said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com.

Sandiaga praised the winning team for being able to display a laudable performance. He said vandalism at soccer matches would stop as it hurt the sport.

Apart from the vandalism, another incident occurred during the post-game ceremony.

In a viral video that circulated over the weekend, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan could be seen being prevented by one member of the Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres) from joining President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo after the match on the GBK pitch.

However, the Presidential Palace said no instruction had been given to bar Anies from joining Jokowi on the pitch.

“There was no instruction whatsoever from the President to bar Anies,” deputy for the Presidential Press, Media and Information Secretariat Bey Machmudi said in a statement.

Bey further said that members of Paspampres only allowed individuals on the list to join the President on the pitch. He also said Jokowi and Anies were in a good mood during the game with the President congratulating the Jakarta governor after Persija won the game.

Responding to the incident, Anies said he did not take it personally. “It did not matter where I was during the game. The most important thing is Persija won and that made me proud.”

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