Persija Jakarta punished and fined by FAI

April 3, 2001

The league match between two long-time rivals Persija Jakarta and PSMS Medan on March 25 ended in a riot. Because of this, Football Association of Indonesia (FAI) Disciplinary Committee has punished the hosts Persija Jakarta to one non-attended league match and fined the club RP 5 millions.

This decision was taken because after the shameful match, groups of fans went into the field and hurt the visiting players and officials of PSMS Medan.

"The designated match is the one between Persija Jakarta and Jakarta FC. Persija' event coordinator has also been fined Rp 5 millions," said the Committee's chairman, Andi Darussalam Tabussala.

Andi added that PSMS officials have also been asked to submit the names of their players and officials who insulted referee Ronny (from Surabaya) during the match.

"We want the names to be submitted as soon as possible. From the match tape, it was obvious that the foul in Persija's penalty box was not penalty-bound, so the referee's decision of not giving the penalty to PSMS was a valid one," said Andi.

Another man punished from the match was Match Inspector Sanusi ES (from Cirebon). He's been prohibited to inspect or referee in the league for one full year because he failed to give true and accurate accounts about what was happening during and after the match.

The Disciplinary Committee also gave punishments to another referee, Isaac Lawani. Isaac was strongly suspected of bribing another referee, Syamsul (from Makassar), during the match between Persma Manado and Persema Malang after he tried to bribe Syamsul into giving a penalty kick for the hosts Persma. Isaac has been banned from getting involved with the league for one full year.

from www.sepak-bola.tv (4/2/01)