Officials welcome PSSI's plan for greater autonomy
JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesian Soccer Federation's (PSSI) proposal to give its 27 chapters throughout the country more independence in raising funds and grooming young players was hailed by the federation's provincial officials.
The Jakarta chapter's Abdul Kahfi and Hoetomo from the West Java chapter said on Monday that by being given greater autonomy, chapters could implement their own programs and would not have to await instructions from PSSI.
However, both officials said chapters would face difficulty in raising funds to finance tournaments and soccer clubs.
The proposal is scheduled to be ratified at the end of PSSI's three-day national congress at Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta. PSSI is also scheduled to change the name of provincial commissariat (Komda) to provincial chapters.
State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung Laksono opened the congress on Monday, during which PSSI will endorse its working plan for the 1999 to 2003 term. The congress, which is usually held every five years, will hear the accountability report of current federation chairman Agum Gumelar and elect a new chairman.
Agung was accompanied at the congress by National Sports Council chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar, Agum and his predecessor Azwar Anas, who he succeeded in October last year.
Kahfi, who is also Jakarta deputy governor for administrative affairs, expressed hope provincial chapters could establish better relationships with clubs and federations.
"As a patron, Komda has yet to be totally accommodating to input from chapters. It still can't arrange the optimal training system.
"By being given autonomy, chapters must be more communicative in discussing their problems before asking for help from PSSI," he said.
Hoetomo said his chapter now would be able to seek outside financial support, something it needed because it never received funds from PSSI.
"We represent PSSI in the provinces. We should have received financial support, but PSSI only gave us training guidelines without any funds. Ideally, training programs must also be supported with the funding," he said.
However, he acknowledged it was not easy to secure the funding to support a soccer club.
"It's our risk. If we don't have money, how can we stage tournaments? Maybe we should find another solution. A soccer team involves a great number of players, so it also needs a great amount of money," he said.
Agung Laksono also welcomed the idea of giving greater freedom to provincial PSSI chapters.
"I hope there will be autonomy for the chapters, so they can stage more tournaments and also cooperate with foreign soccer federations," he said. (ivy)