PSSI braces for violence ahead of championship games
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) said on Tuesday it was taking precautionary measures in cooperation with local security authorities ahead of the league championship semifinals and final at the Bung Karno Stadium later this week.
PSSI secretary-general Trie Gustoro said the organizing committee was set to deploy 1,500 security attendants, mostly comprising officers and troops from the Jakarta Police and Jakarta Military.
"We will be keeping a close watch over the spectators right from their arrival to the time when they leave the ground," Tri said referring to the expected big influx of supporters from outside Jakarta.
The spectators will come mostly from the North Sumatra capital of Medan, South Sulawesi capital Makassar and East Java capital of Surabaya, whose teams qualified for the semifinals on Thursday. The other semifinalist is host Persija.
Supporters from Surabaya and other parts of East Java are so notorious for their behavior that they have been dubbed bonek (akin to football hooligan).
They cause problems not only inside the stadium during the match, but outside the stadium. Many of them travel to Jakarta with insufficient funds, and resort to canvassing or threatening passersby to meet their needs.
Violence frequently marks their homeward trips if they lose, which at times results in damage to the trains they are traveling on.
But the organizers refused to be overly pessimistic about the possibility of them causing trouble again.
"We should not be scared of them. They (the bonek) no longer exist after all. They have become better behaved under official supporters organizations," Eddy Elison, the PSSI's public relations officer, told The Jakarta Post by phone.
"We have made contact with the supporters' coordinators. What we are anxious about mostly concerns the spectators who are not part of any organization."
The Jakarta Police banned the soccer league final from Jakarta two years ago following crowd violence that disrupted the semifinals matches. The final was moved to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi.
Security concerns had forced the PSSI to suspend the league in 1998.
Tri said on Tuesday that PSSI chairman Agum Gumelar was scheduled to talk with the supporters' coordinators in an effort to heighten their awareness of trouble-free matches.
In Thursday's contest, the first match will kick off at 4 p.m., which will be aired live on RCTI, while the second match, live on TVRI, will follow at 6:15 p.m.
As many as 72 thousand tickets will be sold, with another 12 thousand in reserve in case of excessive numbers of fans.
The ticket prices range from Rp 60,000 for the VIP stands, Rp 30,000 for first-class stands to Rp 20,000 for the open stands.
Tri announced that 16 urine samples randomly taken during the quarterfinals are being tested by the Jakarta doping laboratory with another eight samples from the semifinals to follow.
The final will take place on Sunday.