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Murder of fan dark cloud over Indonesian soccer
The litmus test for PSSI is however its commitment to upholding its disciplinary rules.
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Hooliganism: People visit the grave of soccer fan Haringga Sirila in Indramayu, West Java on Monday. Haringga, a Persija supporter, was beaten to death by a rival group of fans during Sunday’s match between host Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta. (Antara/Dedhez Anggara)
T
he 13-second footage of violence that led to the death of Haringga Sirila, a Persija soccer fan from Jakarta, at the hands of rival Persib supporters, widely known as Bobotoh, is shocking and traumatic. The last time I witnessed bloodshed was many years ago, when I reported on a brawl near the South Jakarta District Court.
The footage might shock you to the point that you need to question the sanity of the people who dealt punches and kicks and used whatever they found around them, such as rocks, glass or wooden sticks, to beat up Haringga. From a mental health perspective, such a barbaric act is driven by a primitive instinct that knows no logic.
As expected, officials were quick to condemn the violence. They claim to have done enough to prevent similar incidents from occurring and promise this was the last such killing — the same response they gave when hooliganism claimed lives in the past.
The police failed at least twice on Sunday, first by not preventing the ID checks by Persib supporters targeting Persija fans and second by being absent when the act of violence took place. The assault occurred about two-and-a-half hours before the Indonesian league match kicked off at 3:30 p.m., when security personnel should have stood ready at every corner of the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api (GBLA) Stadium.
Police should have expected a potentially high-tempered match between the two archrivals, given the record of clashes between their supporters that had left six dead from 2012 until Haringga died on Sunday. Such precaution was absent, as evident in the fact that those die-hard supporters felt free to conduct ID checks and eventually lynch the poor Haringga.
The speedy arrest of 16 supporters, eight of whom have been declared suspects, deserves praise, however. The GBLA Stadium’s CCTV played a major role in leading police to the alleged perpetrators.
Enforcement of the law is one thing, but putting an end to soccer hooliganism is quite another. Some, including the newly installed West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, have called on the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) to suspend the league. “It would be better for us to scrap the whole soccer tournament than to lose another soul. It’s never worth it,” he said.
Indonesian Professional Athletes Body (BOPI) chairman Richard Sambera encouraged the PSSI to resolve the case within a week. Saying he was fed-up with the repeated killings of soccer fans, Richard said he expected firm punishment of all the relevant parties, including Persib, for its failure to educate and “civilize” its supporters.
Richard says the option of halting the Indonesian professional soccer league was already on the table. He insists that in the absence of the league, its operator, PT LIB, and the PSSI shift their focus to a thorough evaluation and devise stricter procedures that would eradicate hooliganism.
Youth and Sports Ministry secretary-general Gatot S. Dewobroto has joined the chorus demanding punishment of all responsible parties. The penalty should also apply to those who allowed the Persib-Persija match to go ahead even though they knew about the previous fatal incident on the premises of the stadium.
Killing of soccer supporters, said Gatot, had become a national concern, not only because of the brutal act of violence but also because it kept happening, thereby tainting Indonesian soccer.
According to data from Save Our Soccer Indonesia, a non-profit organization set up to articulate the concerns of soccer fans, 70 supporters have been killed since 1995, including 21, like Haringga, as a result of mob violence.
The group’s coordinator, Akmal Marhali, contends that a lack of firm action against the parties responsible for incidents leaving supporters dead or injured was the reason for acts of violence to persist. Nobody is willing to learn from an accident because of the impunity.
Many suspect it is the business side of the sport that challenged attempts to punish clubs held accountable for accidents involving their supporters. It’s too big to resist, given that soccer is the favorite, and hence most lucrative, sport in the country. Elite club Persib, for example, raked in Rp 20 billion (US$1.34 million) in profits in 2014. The soccer league sees the circulation of hundreds of billions of rupiah.
Punitive measures like a suspension of the league would be disastrous for the business. It is also the case when certain clubs receive a match ban or have to host a match in an empty stadium. Persib, for example, escaped severe punishment by the PSSI in the form of five home matches played without supporters last year, after appealing to the soccer body. The PSSI had slapped the penalty on the club after the death of a Persib supporter at the hands of his fellow club fans, who had mistaken him for a Persija supporter, in July last year.
No business means no money for clubs and players. But that PSSI announced Tuesday indefinite suspension of the Liga 1 premier league shows the soccer body took the public aspirations into consideration.
The litmus test for PSSI is however its commitment to upholding its disciplinary rules.
All the instruments are there, but — as many have noted — business interests may prevail over those who still have the clarity to see this tragedy through. We hopefully will get a better impression of the PSSI’s resolve.
