Three Pelti chapters want Tanri's ouster

JAKARTA (JP): Three provincial chapters of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) plan to request an extraordinary congress to replace current association chairman Tanri Abeng, who has been named a suspect in the Bank Bali scandal.

Pelti spokesman Benny Mailili said representatives from the Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java chapters wanted to ask for the congress.

However, they will need another 14 chapters to make the demand before the association grants their calls. According to Pelti's rules, two-thirds of the association's 26 chapters must request an extraordinary congress before the action is granted.

"I have talked to representatives of provincial sports councils who are also Pelti officials in their areas. Three provinces -- Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java -- will request an extraordinary congress. I think they have their own reasons for wanting to replace Pak Tanri," Benny said.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Soehandoyo, said last month an investigation led by Chairul Imam had found "enough preliminary evidence" to name Tanri, a former state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises, and Bank Indonesia executive Erman Munzir as suspects in the Rp 540 billion (US$75 million) Bank Bali scandal.

Benny said Tanri should have mandated either Pelti secretary- general Sugeng Sarjadi, official in charge of athlete development Sudjiono Timan or official in charge of competition Subronto Laras to take over his job until the end of his working term in 2002.

He also said Tanri should give another mandate to stage an extraordinary meeting to elect a new chairman. He said new officials were needed to lessen the internal conflict in the association so Pelti could move forward and realize its goals.

"Tanri Abeng loves tennis, but in this organization there have been many conflicts involving officials, whether he is present or not. To minimize this, he should mandate one of his top officials to prepare the extraordinary congress," he said.

"But as of today, Tanri has done nothing to settle the problem. Pelti allows its officials to have differences of opinion, but we don't want these opinions to split us up," he added.

Separately, four women tennis players advanced to the quarterfinals of the $10,000 Women's Circuit at Kemayoran Tennis Center in Central Jakarta.

However, national player Liza Andriyani was stopped in the second round on Wednesday. Liza, the 1999 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist in the team event and the silver medalist in the doubles event, bowed out 1-6, 1-6 to Chae Kyung-yee of South Korea.

Veteran player Irawati Moerid Iskandar surprised Thailand's top player and number-three seed in the event, Benjamas Sangaram, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2. Dea Sumantri upset Lee Eun-jeong of South Korea 6-4, 6-4, Angelique Wijaya beat Rushmi Chakravarthi of India 6-1, 6-2, and Wukirasih Sawondari outclassed Marylane Losey of Switzerland 6-4, 6-0.(ivy)