East Timorese Bento ready to join Indonesian Tiger Cup team

East Timorese Bento ready to join Indonesian Tiger Cup team

JAKARTA (JP): East Timorese soccer player Miro Baldo Bento
said he was ready to play for Indonesia in contradiction to his
earlier statement that he would return home and thereby throw
away his chance of playing for the Indonesian team.

"I am ready to play for the Indonesian national team. I don't
want to get involved in disputes on my nationality. I will prove
it on the soccer field," he told a media briefing on Thursday.

Bento -- who is still named as member of the national team for
the 2000 Tiger Cup tournament in Bangkok next month despite his
controversial statement -- had repeatedly said he would return to
East Timor and play soccer there as his mother and relatives were
still living in the former Indonesian province.

"I have repeatedly told journalists that I would rather play
for an East Timor soccer team than for the Indonesian national
team."

"But I was talking emotionally as I was carried away by the
political situation. At that time, East Timor has just earned its
independence after 24 years."

Bento, who is now playing for the Makassar-based PSM club,
said he was ready to bear the responsibility for his choice. "It
is I myself who will face my family in East Timor. I am ready to
face the risks."

The 25-year-old player still holds his Indonesian identity
card and uses an Indonesian passport whenever he and his club
play in overseas tournaments.

He also said he did not have any connection with either pro-
independence or pro-integration movements. "I do not involve
myself in politics. I am a soccer player."

Bento's name was on the team's 18-strong lineup faxed by the
Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) to the Cup organizers on
Oct. 6.

Coach Nandar Iskandar had agreed to expel seven out of 22
players after their poor performances in the 2000 Asian Cup in
Lebanon. Besides Bento, Nandar also promoted Budiman and Suwandi
H.S. to the national team. All the players were playing for PSM.

Both soccer observers and legislators have had a great deal to
say over Bento's inclusion in the national team given his past
comments.

However, Bento rejected assumptions that he was forced by
Nurdin Halid, PSSI's official in charge of athletic development
and also one of PSM's patrons, to give up his dream of playing
for his home country and return as a professional player in
Indonesia.

"There was no such pressure. I have picked a career as a
soccer player and all that I can do is play soccer," he said
emotionally when pressed by journalists.

Bento appeared nervous during the media briefing. He further
said he had no idea about his future plans.

"I don't want to talk about what I where I will be five years
from now after East Timor has become a country. I want to reach
my best in my career here. I am doing nothing wrong if I
introduced East Timorese soccer through playing for an Indonesian
team."

Nurdin told the briefing that he was not involved in the
discussions to pick Bento to play for the national team. He said
the decision was reached after a series of discussions between
Nandar and National Team Director Muhammad Zein in Lebanon.

But Nandar said Nurdin had a hand in the decision. "Myself,
Pak Nurdin and Pak Zein discussed the players together."

He also said he agreed to include the additional three players
for technical reasons.

Bento might pair Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, his teammate in PSM,
as strikers to replace Rochy Puttiray, who preferred to play for
his current Hong Kong-based Instant Dict club. (ivy)