Banned referees cry foul at charges

Banned referees cry foul at charges

JAKARTA (JP): A group of soccer referees, banned from
officiating after an alleged match-fixing scam, decried yesterday
what they termed unfair treatment by the All-Indonesia Football
Federation (PSSI).

Helmi Piliang, Khalik Jiro, Chairul Agil and Pracoyo,
representatives of a total of eight referees recently suspended
for between seven years and 10 years, met with Adang Ruchiatna,
the head of the fact-finding team assigned to investigate the
reported collusion in the Indonesian League from 1994 to 1997.

The meeting was held behind closed doors at the federation's
headquarters at the Senayan sports complex in Central Jakarta.

But the referees emerged from more than four hours of talks
declaring they had no confidence in the federation's commitment
to cleanse the sport of dirty practices.

"We recognize that PSSI is the only governing body of national
soccer. But they can't just arbitrarily impose the punishment on
us," Pracoyo, one of the banned referees, said after the meeting.

"We're not only talking about the fate of eight or nine
referees, but their families."

The internationally accredited referee had just returned from
Singapore where he was scheduled to officiate at Tiger Cup
qualifying matches underway until Saturday. Tournament organizers
dropped him from his scheduled games at PSSI's request.

Pracoyo, banned for 10 years, questioned the soccer body's
crackdown on referees, claiming that many parties were involved
in the match-fixing and bribery in the sport.

"We've disclosed everything to the team, but why don't they
take the same measures against club owners and managers?" said
Khalik Jiro, who was suspended for seven years.

Although he admitted to receiving money from Denpasar-based
Gelora Dewata, Arema from Malang, East Java and Jayapura, Irian
Jaya-based Persipura last year, Khalid said the gifts were tokens
of thanks.

"The money was not given to me before the matches, so it had
nothing to do with the outcome of the matches," he said.

Chairul, also banned for 10 years, said he was curious why the
fact-finding team had only targeted him and the other seven
referees.

"I know that one or two people in that small team must have
their own interests in mind, and are afraid if their dishonesty
is unveiled," he said. He declined to elaborate.

The city police announced Monday that referees Nasruddin,
Khalik, Helmi and Sasmuryadi and a soccer club official, Dadang
S, were named as suspects in the match-fixing. They joined senior
referee Djafar Umar, previously banned for 20 years by the soccer
body. The six will be tried under the 1980 Bribery Law.

Pracoyo said he and the other referees were ready for further
police questioning. "If necessary, we will hire lawyers to
accompany us."

Khalik said: "We were cornered in earlier questioning. The
police bombarded us with a flurry of questions without giving us
enough chance to explain." (emf)