Agum announces names of new PSSI officials
JAKARTA (JP): The chairman of the All Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI), Agum Gumelar, announced on Friday the names of new officials of the federation for the 1999/2003 term.
Agum replaced Nugraha Besoes, former secretary-general, with Tri Goestoro after being pressured into finding a replacement at the national congress last month.
"I picked Tri because he has proper managerial skills and experience and he has good prospects in the organization. He is also committed to conducting his duties as secretary-general," he said.
Agum, who was reelected as PSSI chairman last month, said he initially had four candidates for the position including Tri and Nugraha.
"But Nugraha told me that he did not want the post anymore."
Agum, also governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), said he had heard negative comments about PSSI officials before he took over the job from former chairman Azwar Anas last year.
"In the past year, I could only ask officials to help me run this organization. It's impossible for me to change PSSI drastically if I don't want it to get bogged down," he said.
Nugraha, who served as secretary-general for two terms, told reporters that he was optimistic Tri would be able to do a good job.
In a soccer organization, it is the key role of the secretary- general to manage the internal workings of the organization and deal with foreign federations.
"In an international meeting, a secretary-general must be able to make quick decisions for the sake of national soccer development," said Nugraha, who will serve as chairman of PSSI's evaluation board.
Agum said he announced the names of PSSI officials two weeks before the deadline due to the upcoming schedule for national league competition.
"New officials must work hard in a very short time to stage the national competition soon. Due to our country's condition during the economic crisis, all officials are expected to work harder to make the league successful because competition is the heart of athletes' development," he said.
Agum said his top priority in the next period -- besides staging the league -- is to urge all officials to study the congress decisions in order to enable them to carry out their jobs.
Officials must also start arranging competitions for juniors starting from the age of 14.
Agum named young businessman Irawadi as the treasurer. He also named five divisions: the human resources division chaired by Sartomo, the athletic development division chaired by Nurdin Halid, the competition division chaired by Ismed D. Tahir, the organizational division chaired by former spokesman Tondo Widodo and the marketing and promotion division chaired by Dimas Wahab, former chairman of the Recording Industry Association (ASIRI).
Agum said he needed input from soccer fans to enable him to evaluate PSSI programs. (yan)