To Agum Gumelar: What's happened to national soccer?

Budi A. Sanusi, Contributor, Jakarta

With the exception of badminton and tennis everything looks somber when we talk about Indonesian sports.

Soccer, in particular, is currently at its lowest ebb with the national team suffering defeat after defeat with almost regular monotony.

True, now we have a number of semi-professional clubs taking part in the Indonesian league competition held on an annual basis under the auspices of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) skippered by Agum Gumelar. However, it is sad to note that no remarkable headway has been achieved so far, despite the presence of several foreign players.

Those foreign legionnaires have done little to help raise the quality of national soccer. How could they contribute something to national soccer as they all are past their prime and over the hill?

In fact they came here simply to seek greener pastures and make a better living.

And as if to add insult to injury many officials within PSSI reportedly use the association as a source of income for them, taking financial reward from "various sectors".

Indonesia was once a power to be reckoned with in Asia in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s during the era of such legends as Anwar Ramang, Djamiat Dalhar, Aang Witarsa, Thio Him Tjiang, Sutjipto Suntoro, Iswadi Idris, Judo Hadianto, Abdul Kadir and Ronny Pattinasarani.

The first four will be best remembered for their giant-killing exploits when they, and the rest of the national team, held the mighty Soviet Union to a scoreless draw at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Although in a second match, the Soviet trounced Indonesia 4-0, everybody would agree the draw against the Red Bears was the best achievement ever produced by a national squad on the world stage. This is all the more so given the fact the Soviet Union eventually won the gold medal at the Olympics.

Sutjipto captained Indonesia to famous victories in various events, including the King's Cup in Bangkok.

During five years from 1968, Indonesia was one of the most feared teams in Asia.

South Korea and Japan, now at the forefront of Asian soccer, were at the time rendered helpless by Sutjipto and company.

Even in a friendly match as Abdul Kadir recalled, the Japanese manager implored the referee to stop the match when Indonesia led 7-0. Now it could be the other way around.

Such is just an illustration that Indonesia can emulate the glory days of the 1970s if the PSSI chairman and his staff are willing to learn from their predecessors.

But let's be honest, it would be a long way off before Indonesia can catch up with South Korea which finished fourth in 2002 World Cup.

Once again, the most pressing thing for the PSSI to do is to find the most effective medicine to remedy the state of affairs befalling national soccer.

Periodically sending players and coaches to some of the world's established soccer schools like Brazil, England or Holland seems to be one of the options.

This of course needs huge funding, but the association should strive to get it.

Hoping to receive funds from the government is a waste of time as even when the law of sports is passed by the House of Representatives, I, for one, doubt very much if it will work to help rectify the situation.

Finding players with the caliber of Sutjipto, Iswadi or Ronny Pattinasarani who have strong characters, personality, tremendous skills and talent is very difficult indeed. Of the players now making the national squad, I will pick only two whose playing qualities come close to those of the three: defender Aples Tecuari and Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto.

Both are the product of a long-term Primavera development program in the early 1990s when PSSI sent a group of young players to train in Italy.

Apart from sending players abroad, PSSI is well advised to hire a quality foreign coach with proven international repute. PSSI should at any cost hire, say, Gus Hiddink - the Dutch man who steered South Korea to a fairy-tale showing at this year's World Cup.

The association should spare no effort and funds, for that matter, in raising the standard of national soccer to that of, say, South Korea's or Japan's level.

National soccer is not dead yet. In fact it is alive and developing, sadly to note that its direction so far is on the wrong track, if not to say has gone astray.

Now, those at the helm of PSSI should ask themselves: Do they genuinely want to see our soccer make a big strides forward or remain at a standstill like it is now?