PSSI denies treating Henk Wullems unfairly

JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) has expressed surprise over Henk Wullems' statement that it treated him unfairly by not extending his contract.

Nirwan Dermawan Bakrie, the federation's technical director, said Wednesday that the termination was because no agreement could be reached between PSSI and Wullems, the former national soccer team coach, over handling the team.

"PSSI was never one-sided in terminating the contract. The federation had a meeting with Wullems to discussing several matters including the national team and Wullems' salary," Nirwan was quoted in Kompas yesterday.

Nirwan said he was surprised that Wullems held a personal media conference when it was agreed they would hold a joint one.

Wullems told the press Tuesday that he was disappointed with PSSI and called the federation "dishonest".

"I am very disappointed and upset that the federation's officials are dishonest," said former Dutch national coach Wullems, who guided the Indonesia to the 19th SEA Games final last year.

PSSI then replaced Wullems with Rusdy Bahalwan, the coach of the Surabaya-based Persebaya club.

Rusdy's immediate duties were to prepare the team for the Tiger Cup scheduled to be held here in September.

The team, mostly comprising players from the SEA Games squad, will undergo training in Surabaya, from Feb. 22 to March 22.

Nirwan denied the appointment of Rusdy was made before the termination of Wullems' contract. "Rusdy was appointed after observing that Wullems' contract could not be extended."

According to Nirwan, PSSI did not extend Wullems' contract because Wullems did not agree that his salary of US$10,000 should be based on an exchange rate of Rp 4,000 to the U.S. dollar.

"We certainly cannot afford to pay Wullems $10,000 based on a Rp 10,000 currency rate. We then asked for further negotiations but these were not agreed, so we had no choice but to terminate Wullems' contract," Nirwan said. (lnt)