Bhinneka threatens to disband because of unfair treatment

JAKARTA (JP): Surakarta-based Bhinneka Sritex put more pressure on the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) on Wednesday by declaring it would disband due to unfair treatment.

The declaration came after the association sanctioned the club on Tuesday by banning it from participating in any event held by it for one year and fining it Rp 10 million. The club received the sanction for walking off court during a match against Aspac in the final of the A Mild Kobatama basketball tournament last Sunday.

Club manager Halim Sugiarto said he had no intention of threatening Perbasi to review the sanction, as he thought a prolonged dispute would end up nowhere.

"I have no problem with the penalty. But I have had enough of the unfair treatment. If I disband the club, I won't have anything to do with basketball affairs. I have spent a great amount of money developing this club, but all we get is unfair treatment," he told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

Halim said he would not mind if the other owner of the club still wished the club to continue. "But I don't want to take care of it anymore," he insisted.

Halim said the club needed more than Rp 1 billion annually for training and salary costs. Two male players at the club, I Made Sudiadnyana and Hardono Putro Prajogo, are members of the national team.

He said the players would comply with the club's decision. "If the players still want to work with us, we will employ them. It will be up to the players to decide on their future careers."

He also regretted that Perbasi's official in charge of Kobatama Doedi Gambiro had not invited them to share their side of the incident.

"Pak Doedi himself has no idea of what happened on the basketball court on Sunday. He only heard of it from his officials who were supervising the match. And we have never been given a chance to explain. I think he is tyrannical," he said.

"If the club blamed the referee for an unfair decision, the referee must have done something wrong, not the club. Why should Doedi sanction the club?"

He said the club had a long history of disagreements with national referees, ever since the club first competed in the Kobatama national basketball league in 1997.

"During the 1997/1998 league, I saw myself an official of a Bandung-based club giving money to referees after matches. I strongly protested this. Maybe the referees were offended by my objection and they still resent me until now," he said, adding that there were some referees who made objective and fair decisions.

He said his club would send a letter to Perbasi's chairman Sutiyoso, who is also the Jakarta governor, explaining the chronology of the event. "We hope Pak Sutiyoso receives a fair report from both sides."

The incident occurred on Sunday in the second quarter of the match when Suko Daryono of Aspac blocked Bhinneka's veteran center Lie Tjui Tek from the net in the key area. Suko knocked the ball out of Lie's hand.

Leading referee Hadi Wasito, who was standing close to the action, looked on while trailing referee Syarifuddin, who was far away in the center field, blew his whistle to declare that Suko had committed a technical foul.

Bhinneka players initially thought that Hadi had awarded a foul to Lie. One of them, Wahyudi, questioned Hadi, but Hadi ignored him. Angered by the response, Wahyudi hit the ball out of Hadi's hand and it was declared a technical foul. (ivy)