PBVSI steering body to select alternative chief
JAKARTA (JP): A steering committee member of the Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) national congress, Ahmed Solihin, said on Friday that the committee would select another candidate for its chairmanship if the two-day congress ended in a deadlock.
"Mbak Tutut (current PBVSI chairwoman Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana) has agreed to be reelected on the condition that she is elected by all of the association's 26 members," he said.
"If some PBVSI provincial chapters are against her reelection, then we will have to offer another candidate. That's why we met National Police chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo this morning, to ask whether he would be willing to chair the organization."
Ahmed said Rusdihardjo had yet to give an answer but the general was not a stranger to the volleyball community as he used to chair the Yogyakarta chapter.
"Pak Rusdihardjo said he really appreciated his candidacy, but he was unable to give an immediate answer as he must consult his staff on the necessity and the advantage of chairing PBVSI," he said.
"PBVSI thinks that the police chief chairing the association would be advantageous to the sport's development as volleyball is the number two favorite sport in the country here after soccer.
"If each police precinct chief could support volleyball development in his area, I believe many people would become very enthusiasm about playing volleyball."
Earlier, steering committee chairman Sutardiono said Tutut had declined reelection due to her position in society after her father, former president Soeharto, was forced to step down in 1998 and due to her business commitments.
"The best way is to unite the two. One of them could chair the organization while another could be the chief patron. If we do it that way, the congress participants must be willing to accept the PBVSI statute's on the chairmanship," Ahmed said.
The congress will take place on Saturday and Sunday and will be preceded by a small party to celebrate PBVSI's 44th anniversary. (yan)