Ismet insists on relinquishing PSSI seat

JAKARTA (JP): Competition and league manager of the All- Indonesia Soccer Association, Ismet Tahir, is insisting on resigning from the soccer body and says it is his own decision.

"Nobody is to blame except me. It's my guilty feeling that makes me resign," Ismet announced on Friday. It was Ismet's first public announcement since his letter of resignation addressed to chairman of the association, Azwar Anas, was leaked early this week.

Ismet appeared to mock a controversial decree signed by Azwar last month, which annulled a mandate he signed banning international striker Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto from joining Pelita Jaya club.

"The issuance of the decree which confirms that Kurniawan's move to Pelita is legal means that I made a mistake. That's why I have to step down," said Ismet, a leading figure in the national soccer body in the past decade.

Ismet opposed Kurniawan's move to Pelita after he failed to show the mandatory International Transfer Certificate within five days as required. However, a regulation of the soccer association says that it is a chairman's prerogative to settle the case.

Kurniawan, one of the country's young booters who trained in Italy a few years ago, went to Pelita after finishing his two- year contract with Swiss premiership side FC Lucerne in May.

The 20-year-old player stayed with his new club for a month without ever playing a national league match, before Pelita and Italy's Sampdoria struck a US$50,000 deal to take him to the Italian premier league for three years starting from December.

Ismet said that he met Azwar to discuss his letter of resignation on Thursday. "He asked me to drop my plan. But he talk did not go into detail because he had to visit an ailing relative," Ismet was quoted by Antara as saying.

He denied rumors linking his resignation with his supposedly unpleasant relationship with Pelita's owner Nirwan Bakrie, a renowned conglomerate who sponsored the Italian stint for national junior booters. (amd)