Indonesians are not the only ones saddened by the tragedy.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) also held a moment of silence before several football matches in memory of the victims of the Kanjuruhan Tragedy while demonstrating solidarity with Indonesia.
UEFA's gesture signals the world's attention to the Kanjuruhan Tragedy and not just the parents, who lost their children in the incident.
The expression "No football is worth a human life" dominates social media along with expectations that the Kanjuruhan Tragedy becomes the last disaster from the world of football.
Aligning with that belief, Head of the Joint Independent Fact Finding Team (TGIPF) Mahfud MD said that his team is seeking to uncover the root cause of the problem behind this incident.
These findings will serve as evaluation materials and will be delivered to the president, who will then follow them up with improvements to prevent this humanitarian tragedy from recurring.
Aspects under consideration are regulatory improvement, security, the organizer, and infrastructure.
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Regulation and security
The Kanjuruhan Tragedy's fact-finding team not only looks for evidence at Kanjuruhan but also utilizes this momentum to conduct structural reform across Indonesia.
This structural reform is expected to create a better football ecosystem that can develop national football without incidents that claimed human lives.
As a follow up of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's order to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, the TGIPF has learned about FIFA's regulation that should be an object for change.
One of the points in the regulation concerns police presence around the match field. Several officers strove to block off supporters that dashed to the middle of the field during the Kanjuruhan Tragedy.
This action gives the impression that the officers considered the field center to be off-limits for the public.
This is despite the fact that FIFA's regulation stipulates that in the event of a commotion, the people are not suggested to exit the building, but rather, to move to the center of the field.
According to FIFA's regulation, the number of police deployed around the field should be minimized as possible.
They should also not use aggressive attributes, in this case helmet, face protector, and shield, unless necessary, depending on the situation on the field. The police should also not be present in easily visible spots.
To become part of the international football scene, FIFA's regulation should be prioritized. Hence collaboration among the FIFA, Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and Indonesian government will be undertaken to develop stadium safety standards across Indonesia.
In addition, these three parties will formulate protocol standards and safety procedures carried out by the police in accordance with the international safety standard.
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Management and infrastructure
The other problem pointed out by the fact-finding team is the match management by the organizer as well as infrastructure conditions at the stadium where the match is held.
Assessing the Kanjuruhan Tragedy, the issue of unsuccessful online ticket sales crops up.
Several parties with certain interests hindered online ticket sales. If online ticket sales would have been conducted successfully, then the organizer would have data of everyone that had attended the match.
Moreover, online ticket sales also facilitate organizers to control the number of supporters that directly attend the event inside the stadium.
The other important aspect is to review the readiness of stadium infrastructure to hold football matches.
To prevent the Kanjuruhan Tragedy from recurring, the president has ordered the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing to conduct stadium audits across Indonesia.
FIFA's modern method that can be implemented in Indonesia is changing the seat into a numbered single seat. Using this system, any spectator keen to watch the match live is necessitated to show the seat number.
With this, the condition can become more orderly, with a more controlled capacity.
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Dissemination
Ignorance can lead to disasters, and this was apparent from the security officials' knowledge on the use of tear gas in the middle of the stadium.
FIFA's regulation on tear gas usage is not something that police officials know in general, which certainly is regrettable.
Since the Malang Police was aware of FIFA's regulation on the tear gas usage ban, it should have conveyed this information during the security planning phase.
These findings should be a form of evaluation for police personnel in future.
In addition to the dissemination of information on regulations to police personnel, the general public should also be aware of the security procedure when untoward incidents occur in the stadium.
Learning from a tragedy is an expensive lesson, especially since hundreds of lives were lost due to it.
TGIPF's swift and stringent action to uncover the root cause of the problem reflects the commitment of all elements of the nation, especially the government, in preventing the Kanjuruhan tragedy from occurring again.
Hence, hopes are pinned on no other mothers developing a sense of hatred toward football due to having lost their children in a tragedy that struck at a football match.
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Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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