WHY HISTORY HAS REPEATED ITSELF
Despite the investigations carried out and sanctions imposed, analysts and stakeholders believe the measures are too lenient and authorities are not taking the problem seriously.
According to Save Our Soccer (SOS), a football community-based watchdog in Jakarta, 78 people have died in Indonesia since 1994 due to football-related accidents.
Fights between supporters of different clubs are a major cause of death as well as people being crushed.
Supporters falling from open-air vehicles when they wanted to go to a match together or after attending a game together is also another factor.
Coordinator from SOS Akmal Marhali said deadly accidents continue to happen because after every accident, there was limited action taken and the punishments were too lenient.
“There is no law-based solution, so there is no deterrent effect and it is not raising awareness among supporters,” Mr Marhali told CNA.
He also said there is minimum education on safety regulations and the international football association regulations. Therefore, supporters lack the needed knowledge to protect themselves.
Sports lecturer from Bandung Institute of Technology Tommy Apriantono concurred.
“The organisers, security officials and supporters need to evaluate together. And this should be the responsibility of the government. The youth and sports ministry should be the main driver because this cuts across sectors,” he said.
Ideally, psychologists and sociologists should also be involved because they understand the thinking and motivation of the supporters, he added.
“The characteristics between Persib’s supporters and Persebaya’s are different, but there is a common characteristic which is total fanaticism.
“They are ready to fight (for their team).”
Mr Apriantono noted that in the past, a few clubs were known for their aggressive supporters. But they managed to educate their fans over time.
Sports analyst Anton Sanjoyo added that the problem of counterfeit match tickets is a long-running one.
“So when we say there is a problem with the tickets, this has been happening for decades because we don’t have a proper system,” he said.
“There are many counterfeit tickets. Perhaps half of those who show up (at matches) have counterfeit tickets … Especially now that tickets are sold online, it is easy to make counterfeit tickets because we don’t have a secure ticketing system.”
Acting secretary with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Jonni Mardizal told CNA that there have been efforts to tackle the problem.
Before every football match, the ministry holds meetings with various stakeholders on safety and other issues, he said.
“So we have mitigation measures, we remind everyone to follow the regulations,” said Mr Mardizal.
“If something happened anyway, it was beyond our ability. Maybe on the field, there were too many supporters. Hence, they outnumbered the number of security officers,” said Mr Mardizal.
However, he maintained that there were sufficient security officers on duty on Jun 17 in Bandung.
While Persib for now is not allowed to host games with spectators, the President Cup continues and this is something football fan Mr Fauzi regrets.
“For PSSI and the others, perhaps they should improve their management … The football matches in Bandung should be stopped for now because no victory (on the pitch) is worth people’s lives,” he said.
