Resolve the Rift, FIFA Tells Indonesian Football

For a third time this year, FIFA moved Indonesia?s deadline to resolve its problems, prompting Indonesian Football Association chairman Djohar Arifin Husin to vow to end the internal rift once and for all.

However, the rebel organization?s reluctance to even meet with officials of the association known as the PSSI to settle their differences could make it an uphill battle for Djohar.

World football?s governing body had previously given the PSSI until March 20 to clear up a damaging wrangle that has seen Indonesia?s best teams split into two leagues, with the threat of suspension during a FIFA committee meeting if it failed to do so. But after the meeting ended last Monday, FIFA said Indonesia?s problem would be dealt with in a two-day executive committee meeting that ended on Friday.

But again, FIFA decided to give Indonesia more time to resolve its crisis.

?The Football Association of Indonesia [PSSI] has been given until 15 June 2012 to settle the issues at stake, notably the control of the breakaway league, failing which the case will be referred to the FIFA Emergency Committee for suspension,? FIFA said in a statement on Friday.

So now Djohar has about two months to end the internal bickerings that has clouded the PSSI for almost a year.

?[Bernhard] Limbong will lead a reconciliation team. We will knock on the door of every club in the breakaway ISL [Indonesian Super League]. We will approach the 13 ISL clubs personally,? Djohar said on Saturday.

?We have to show to FIFA, AFC [Asian Football Confederation] and the world that Indonesia can reach a peaceful settlement. We just want to reconcile.?

However, ISL clubs looked reluctant to accept PSSI?s reconciliation plans. No clubs showed up when PSSI invited them for a discussion in Jakarta on Thursday.

?It?s already too late,? Persipura Jayapura chairman La Siya told state news agency Antara on Saturday. ?It was us who invited the PSSI to a discussion to resolve this problem earlier this year but they didn?t respond well.

?Now they want us to rejoin them but with conditions? There?s no way we would give in to the PSSI demands.?

Bernhard, a PSSI executive committee member, said the clubs? resistance would not stop him from approaching them.

?I don?t mind going to every club and talking with them. In fact, I?ll do that out of my respect for them starting tomorrow,? he said on Sunday. ?We have offered them points of reconciliation but those are not cast in stone. If they know a better way, let?s talk.?

On one of those points, he said the PSSI would recognize the ISL as an official competition as long as the clubs gave control of the league to the PSSI. The ISL is now organized by Liga Indonesia.

?The PSSI is the only football authority in the country,? Bernhard said, ?so we have to control every league. But we?re willing to discuss regulations and other mechanisms.?

Also on Sunday, Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng urged the PSSI to use the FIFA?s extension wisely.

?I still believe that the best way to deal with the problems for the time being is to merge the two rival leagues,? Andi said. ?Everyone has to make their top priority the interests of national football, not their own ambitions .?

The PSSI has been in hot water with FIFA and the AFC in recent years over a spate of issues, including a leadership tussle and corruption allegations.

The latest crisis emerged when the unofficial ISL kicked off to rival the PSSI-recognized Indonesian Premier League.

In February, Indonesia suffered another blow when the national team was thrashed 10-0 by Bahrain in a World Cup qualifier.

Indonesia fielded a weak team because FIFA banned players from the unofficial ISL from representing their country. FIFA launched an investigation into the match, in which Bahrain needed to win by a nine-goal margin to have any hope of making the next round of qualifiers.

Additional reporting from Antara and AFP

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