The Presidential Palace stated that President Joko Widodo had given permission for State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir to run for the position of chairperson of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI).

“When Erick plans to run for the election, he must have asked permission from the president. He will never register himself without the president’s permission,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung stated at the Palace here on Monday.

Anung emphasized that Jokowi will not intervene in the PSSI election despite the fact that one of his ministers runs for the top position in PSSI. He will leave the election process and mechanism handling entirely up to the federation.

Anung did not provide a clear answer as to whether Thohir should step down as SOEs minister. He said he would not make any assumptions because the SOEs minister has not yet been elected as PSSI’s chairperson.

“Now, it is up to the voters, whether to vote for Erick or La Nyalla or whoever the candidate is," he noted.

However, according to the regulations applied on Law Number 3 of 2005 concerning the National Sports System, there is no prohibition against dual position.

Apart from Thohir, La Nyalla Mattalitti from the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) has registered as candidate for the PSSI chairperson position for the 2023-2027 period.

PSSI is under scrutiny following a deadly stampede on October 1, 2022, at the Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang, East Java Province, after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya.

The incident, which becomes one of the world’s worst sporting disaster, killed at least 135 people.

Hence, the PSSI extraordinary congress and the federation election must be carried out earlier in response to the tragedy even though PSSI Chairman Mochamad Iriawan’s term will be over at the end of 2023.

The election will be held concurrently with the implementation of the PSSI Extraordinary Congress on February 16, 2023. (Antaranews)