Nurdin elected PSSI chief

Nurdin elected PSSI chief

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nurdin Halid, who has a travel ban hanging over him because of
his alleged involvement in a Rp 260 billion graft case, has been
elected the new chairman of Indonesia's soccer governing body,
PSSI.

Nurdin, 45, a legislator from the Golkar faction, won 183
votes to beat out manpower minister Jacob Nuwa Wea, who collected
167 votes in the election on Tuesday.

A debate over whether the newly-ratified 64 members of PSSI
would be allowed to vote vote in the election caused a four-hour
delay in the vote, meaning the proceedings finished after
midnight, Antara reported.

Nurdin's victory showed that the majority of the three-day
congress' 352 participants were not deterred by his alleged
connection to a major graft case. The congress was held at the
Hotel Indonesia.

Nurdin had been declared a suspect in the misappropriation of
Rp 91 billion in funds belonging to local clove farmers between
1991 and 1996. He also has been declared a suspect in another
graft case involving the distribution of Rp 169 billion worth of
cooking oil in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

His suspected involvement in these graft cases resulted in
Nurdin being banned from traveling abroad effective since Aug.
12.

"I won't step down. Otherwise, people would think Nurdin Halid
is scared," he said on Monday, responding to calls for him to
withdraw his candidacy. "The court must decide (whether) I'm
guilty."

Nurdin will succeed the outgoing Agum Gumelar for the 2003-
2007 term. Setting aside his legal troubles, Nurdin has proven
himself to be a capable soccer manager.

As team manager of soccer club PSM of Makassar, he guided the
club to victory in the championship of the Indonesian premier
league in 2000, after losing the 1995/1996 final.

Nurdin also guided the national team to victory in Malaysia's
Anniversary Cup.

However, given the current landscape of Indonesian soccer,
Nurdin will face tough challenges in his chairmanship.

The domestic league is plagued with problems both on and off
the pitch. In international competition, the Indonesian under-23
team failed to advance to the next stage of the 2004 Olympic
qualifications, losing to Lebanon.

The senior team will take part in the final round of the 2004
Asia Cup, but its qualification run, in which it was twice
humiliated by Saudi Arabia in their Group C matches, has raised
questions over the team's health.

Nurdin's immediate challenge will be to guide the Indonesian
soccer team to its first gold medal since 1991 at the upcoming
Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam this December.