If the members' request aligns with the statute, then it will be realized
Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA) - The All Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) has turned down a recommendation from the joint independent fact-finding team (TGIPF), which probed the Kanjuruhan tragedy, to revamp its executive board by calling an extraordinary congress.

"Call for resignation is just a recommendation. Proposal and decision are all stipulated in the regulation," PSSI executive committee member Ahmad Riyadhi said at the East Java Provincial Police Headquarters in Surabaya on Thursday.

Calling an extraordinary congress is the PSSI members' right, he added. If they request a congress, then PSSI will hold it.

"If the members' request aligns with the statute, then it will be realized," he said.

Riyadhi, who is also the chief of the PSSI referees commission, informed that he had no problem with football supporters' intention to stage a rally to urge the PSSI executive board members to resign.

"No, we have no problem. How many times has Indonesia (PSSI) held extraordinary congresses? It has held four congresses since 2012. But the result remains unchanged. We must concentrate to be better. We respect the public. We cannot work alone. PSSI needs supporters and observers," he said.

Without any request, PSSI will hold an extraordinary congress in 2023, he added.

He said that PSSI Chief Mochamad Iriawan has taken responsibility for the October 1, 2022, stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java's Malang District.

As a form of this responsibility, he cooperated during questioning at the East Java Provincial Police Headquarters on Thursday.

Iriawan and his deputy chief Iwan Budianto on Thursday answered a police summons to undergo questioning as witnesses in connection with the stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium.

The stampede, which broke out following a football match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya, left 133 people dead and hundreds of others injured.

Police have so far named six suspects in the case.

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Translator: Abdul H/Willy I, Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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