Gus Dur urges PSSI to seize business opportunities

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid urged All-Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) officials to be prepared for coming sport trends to the country which are part of the international sports scene.

"The sports business, especially soccer, will definitely influence us in the future. We have to be prepared to take advantage of the trend instead of being used by other people. That's the key," said Abdurrahman, while meeting PSSI officials at the State Palace on Wednesday to commemorate the organization's 70th anniversary.

"Today's moment shall become memorable history. Seventy years is not a short time. It can be used to evaluate our success," said the President, who is also a big fan of Bayern Muenchen and German star Franz Beckenbauer.

Abdurrahman reminded PSSI officials, who were led by chairman Agum Gumelar, on Indonesia's past glory.

"In the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, we tied 0-0 with the Soviet Union. That's a remarkable achievement."

He also said PSSI's decreasing performance was linked to the development and training program.

"The training program is the foundation of soccer development all over the world. A good development process and financial management will boost our soccer performance but it can't be done without the government's attention."

Separately, the National Sports Council (KONI) vice chairman, Arie Sudewo, expressed appreciation over PSSI's big step to conduct doping tests in its Bank Mandiri league soon.

"I'm glad PSSI can learn a valuable lesson to pay more attention to its players who could be on illegal drugs which can influence their performance."

National player Kurniawan Dwi Julianto was banned from competing in the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games after testing positive for using psychotropic substances. Eri Irianto, who passed away early this month, was suspected of consuming illegal drugs which could have caused his death. (prb/yan)