Persija-Persib Match Passes Largely Without Incident

Police searching Persija Jakarta supporters in Cawang, East Jakarta,
before the football team’s match against Persib Bandung on Thursday.
Police in the five municipalities of Jakarta have begun inspecting and
searching supporters in an effort to curb fan violence

Fears that Thursday’s match between Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung would be marred by violence between supporters went largely unrealized.

Jakarta Police deployed more than 2,000 officers to Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in anticipation of clashes between Persija supporters’ group Jakmania and Persib fans, known as the Vikings.

Those clashes failed to materialize, though, and supporters saw their clubs play out a 2-2 draw. Abanda Herman’s injury-time header salvaged a point for Persija, but the draw did neither side any good in its pursuit of league leader Arema Malang.

Police arrested 12 Jakmania members on weapons possession charges, state-run news agency Antara said, one of whom was a 9-year-old boy. Police also ticketed and towed 272 vehicles , including 72 buses.

State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Andi Alifian Mallarangeng on Thursday asked fans to behave and stop bringing items such as knives, machetes and sickles to matches.

“Let’s support our clubs in a peaceful manner. Avoid anarchy and don’t bring things which are not related to football. Sickles have nothing to do with football,” he said.

Persib fans were barred from the match. The Vikings and Jakmania have a long history of violence between them, and no supporters were allowed into Si Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung, West Java, when the teams played out a scoreless draw on Jan. 9.

Fan violence will be on the agenda when stakeholders in Indonesian football descend on Malang, East Java, for a National Football Congress on March 30 and 31.

“Nowadays, not many women and children watch football any more because they’re afraid of riots,” Andi said. “We’re going to discuss on how to improve Indonesian football and create a friendly and safe football matches.”

The conference is also expected to touch on the decline in results from Indonesian clubs and national teams.

Jakarta Police have paid close attention to football matches and supporters this year. When Persija hosted defending champion Persipura Jayapura on March 16, police arrested 11 Jakmania members for carrying weapons.

Antara reported police found machetes, sickles and a molotov cocktail among the fans arrested on Thursday, though the 9-year-old was not taken into custody.

“Those who are under 18 years old won’t be detained. We’ll just give them guidance and send them back home,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said.

Third Place Slipping From Indonesia’s Grasp

Gold medalists Husaini Noor, left, and Muhammed Nasrulla of Indonesia
competing in the finals of the
10-meter platform synchronized diving event on Monday.

Vientiane, Laos. With four days left in the Southeast Asian Games, Indonesia is far from its target of third place in the medals table. The country, whose regional sports dominance has slipped since the late 1990s, is fifth in the medal tally with 21 gold medals, 21 silver and 36 bronze. Regional powerhouse Thailand leads the Games with 42 golds, 49 silver and 48 bronze. Vietnam (31-30-38) is second, followed by Singapore (27-18-25) and Malaysia (22-27-35). If Indonesia is to reach its top-three target, it must win more than its share of the 250 gold medals still up for grabs. “We think that 150 of those golds will go to Thailand and Vietnam, but they could still make mistakes,” Indonesia deputy chef de mission Djoko Pramono said on Monday. “We have the same chance as other countries for the other 100.” He refused to speculate on whether Indonesia could attain the top-three finish the government wanted before the Games. “All I can say is we still have a chance. To finish third, we’ll need at least 30 more golds,” he said. Indonesia finished fourth at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, winning 56 gold, 64 silver and 82 bronze medals. That followed a fifth-place showing at the 2005 Games in Manila, the country’s worst in history, with 49 gold, 79 silver and 89 bronze. It last won the medal tally when it hosted the 1997 Games, winning 194 golds and 410 medals overall. Badminton’s individual events are the nation’s best bet this year. During the 2007 SEA Games, Indonesian shuttlers swept all seven gold medals, including the two team events. The best they can do this year is six after the women’s team lost to Malaysia in the final. With 26 golds yet to be awarded, athletics could also be a place to make up ground. Suryo Agung Wibowo could add to his men’s 100-meter gold by winning the 200 meters on Wednesday, and women’s 5,000-meter champion Triyaningsih stands a good chance to win the 10,000 meters. Other medal hopefuls include men’s marathon runner Yazuha and women’s 110-meter hurdler Dedeh Erawati. Indonesia should do well in pencak silat, a martial art that originated in the country. Its defending SEA Games champions in men’s indoor and beach volleyball are still unbeaten after the group phase. Other possibilities include wrestling, judo and tennis. If Indonesia falls short, the government may ask just how well the Indonesian Olympic Committee’s Rp 19.5 billion (US$2.1 million) SEA Games budget was spent.

Indonesia in FIFA

Profile

Despite being known as the "Kingdom of Badminton," Indonesia has begun to accept and follow football with the most dedicated of Asian nations. One of the few teams in Southeast Asia who are able to challenge Thailand, the runners-up in the 2002 Tiger Cup are still not powerful enough to compete with the top teams in Asia for a FIFA World Cup™ berth. Drawn into Group 9 with China PR, Maldives and Cambodia in the first qualifying round for Korea/Japan 2002, Indonesia won all their group games but their two encounters against China, losing 5-1 away and 2-0 at home. Despite that disappointment, Indonesia went to the final of the last Tiger Cup, the most popular regional football tournament in South East Asia. They came from two goals behind against regional powerhouses, Thailand, and only fell in a penalty shootout. The team have no shortage of attacking power with 2002 Tiger Cup top scorer Bambang Pamungkas, who had a spell with EHC Norad in Holland, and his skilful partner Budi Sudarsono. The striking duo proved pivotal in the recent 2007 AFC Asian Cup when the team pulled off a sensational 2-1 opening victory against Bahrain as co-hosts, with each scoring a goal in either half. But, as a team, they were obviously not as technically and tactically astute as their group rivals Saudi Arabia, at the hands of whom they suffered a 2-1 reverse. A solitary-goal defeat to Korea Republic in the last match saw them crash out after the group stage, leaving the fans lamenting the chances they squandered in front of goal. Under Bulgarian coach Ivan Venkov Kolev, who took over in January 2007 from Englishman Peter Withe, the team entered the qualifying campaign for South Africa seeking to extend their regional dominance into the continental stage. However, a lack of competitive games in the run-up saw the team disappoint again, losing their two-legged tie against Syria in the qualifying second round by an astonishing 11-1 aggregate to bring an end their campaign.

General Information

• FIFA Trigramme: IDN
• FIFA World Rangking on November 2009: 127
• Country: Indonesia
• Country (official name): Republik Indonesia
• Continent: Asia
• Capital: Jakarta
• Major cities: Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Semarang, Palembang, Ujung Pandang, Malang, Padang, Surakarta, Kupang, Djokjakarta, Banjarmasin
• Currency: Rupiah
• Official languages: Bahasa Indonesia
• Motto: Unity in diversity (Bhinneka tunggal ika).

Geographic Information

• Surface area: 1,919,440 km²
• Highest point: Puncak Jaya 5,030 m.
• Neighbouring countries: Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, East Timor
• Neighbouring seas and oceans: Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean

Population

• Population (in millions): 234.89
• GDP per inhabitant (in US dollars): 3,100
• Density (inhabitants per km2): 122.38
• Average age (in years): 25.8
• Life expectancy at birth (in years): 68.94

Internet

• Internet code: .id
• Number of internet users: 4.4 million (2002)

Big Count

All Players	7,094,260
Registered players	66,960
Unregistered Players	7,027,300
Clubs	83
Officials	1,069

Another Season, Another Headache for Jakarta’s Pro Football Clubs

It’s a new season for the Indonesian Super League, but it’s grappling with the same old problem of trying to play matches in Jakarta. City police said on Monday that they would extend a ban on events that have the potential to attract huge crowds, including football matches, until November because of the presidential inauguration slated for next week. The ban, slapped on Persija Jakarta and Persitara North Jakarta prior to the April legislative elections, was supposed to expire on Oct. 21, the day after the inauguration. But Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comr. Chrysnanda Dwi Laksana said the ban would not be lifted until Nov. 1. “We don’t ban matches, we’re just recommending to delay the events until November,” he said. It remains to be seen whether police fears are warranted, but Persija has two home matches during the period — against Persijap Jepara on Oct. 21 and Persela Lamongan on Oct. 24 — while Persitara is scheduled to host Persebaya Surabaya on Oct. 22 and Persik Kediri on Oct. 31. It also puts PT Liga Indonesia in a difficult position. Under Super League rules, clubs must report 14 days before a match if they fail to get a permit, or they automatically lose.

Indovision Goes It Alone ... And Scores EPL TV Rights

Indovision, the country’s largest pay - TV provider, completed a surprising late comeback to emerge as the winner of non-exclusive broadcast rights for the English Premier League, a company official said. Owned by PT MNC Skyvision, Indovision was awarded the broadcast rights on Sunday and began airing matches that night, after ending a partnership with Telkomvision just the day before. “Indovision was the first pay-TV provider to secure the rights,” Arya Mahendra, the company’s corporate secretary, said on Monday. “We secured full coverage of about 370 matches.” Indovision had previously said it was not even interested in bidding for the right to broadcast England’s top-flight football league, which is hugely popular in Indonesia and across Asia. The company currently has about 480,000 subscribers. “We hope this particular program will help us gain 50,000 to 100,000 new subscribers in the next three months,” Arya said, adding that he expected football fans, bars and restaurants to rush to subscribe. Indovision’s win came as a surprise. On Friday, Arya had maintained that Indovision and Telkomvision’s owner, PT Indonusa Telemedia, would form a consortium to split costs and negotiate an agreement with the joint owners of the Premier League rights, ESPNStar Sports and Astro All Asia Networks. The two providers were set to negotiate through the Indonesian Multimedia Providers Association (APMI), a grouping of 17 media companies. But a source close to the deal told the Jakarta Globe that ESPNStar threatened to call off the talks if APMI remained the designated negotiator, saying the association was not a business entity. The source also said ESPNStar didn’t want to negotiate with a consortium. “Both Telkomvision and Indovision finally parted ways on Saturday [and Indovision] re-bid $6 million for broadcast rights on their own to ESPNStar,” the source said, adding that ESPNStar has banned Indovision from sharing broadcasts of matches with other providers. Just days ago it seemed Telkomvision had locked down the rights. President director Rahadi Arsyad said a fortnight ago that it had reached an unofficial agreement to buy the non-exclusive broadcast rights and was waiting to sign a contract. It’s unclear whether the company or another Indonesian broadcaster will also attempt to buy the non-exclusive broadcast rights. ESPNStar Sports usually sells exclusive rights to broadcast Premier League matches. Last year, pay-TV provider Aora paid $25 million for exclusive rights. Gaby Motuloh, Aora’s corporate secretary, declined to say whether Aora would be interested in extending its existing contract, but it did not air any matches on Saturday.