Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
One day in 2022, Indonesia's baron Nurdin Halid slouches on a sofa in his luxurious room at a seven-star hotel and switches on the cable TV to watch live coverage of the World Cup soccer final featuring ... Indonesia versus Brazil.
This would have to be one of the sweetest dreams Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) chairman Nurdin could have while he serves his two year jail term for alleged involvement in graft cases.
At this year's election Nurdin secured his second term as PSSI chairman (through to 2011), despite demands from world soccer ruling body FIFA that he be replaced.
While campaigning for the post, he announced his vision for the Indonesian team: qualifying in the World Cup in 2020.
The dream, however, was in sharp contrast to all the doom and gloom that shrouded Indonesian soccer this year.
Indonesia's soccer ended the year with the early rout of its Under-23 national team during the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
The team, hoping to reach the finals of the biannual event, were crushed 2-1 by host team Thailand in a qualifying round after winning their first match against minnow Cambodia 3-1, and drawing 0-0 with Myanmar.
For many, the defeat came as no surprise since the same team, which had been groomed in Argentina for three weeks, were previously humiliated by Syria 7-0 during a 2010 World Cup qualifying round match in Syria.
The senior national team were also defeated by neighbors Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand when Indonesia co-hosted the Asian Cup in July.
Making an impressive start with a 2-1 win over Bahrain in the opener, Indonesia later fell to Asian giants South Korea 1-0 and Saudi Arabia 2-1. The host lost its chance to follow Vietnam into the next round.
There was some good news; Indonesia was relatively successful in hosting the Asian Cup, despite a power blackout during the round-robin match, poor ticketing management and minor clashes between supporters.
But defeats were not the only sad story in soccer.
Indonesia is facing another humiliation, off the field.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter told PSSI to follow the organization's statute, which states that no person having been implicated in a criminal case could run as president of any soccer association.
The PSSI, however, insisted FIFA had not called for an election to replace Nurdin, but had asked PSSI to revise its statutes so that it was in compliance with FIFA.
Nurdin chose to sit tight in his position -- it was a similar case to the one in 2004 when Nurdin was sent to jail in another graft case for a two year jail term.
What can we hope to gain from a person behind bars who wants to run a hectic schedule of league matches and hold daily meetings with international soccer bigwigs, or packs of executive sponsors?
Maybe Nurdin thinks he can transform the Cipinang penitentiary lobby into a plush meeting room, with guest houses and hotels nearby to accommodate his special guests.
So far there have been no realistic solutions to this leadership problem, and there are none in sight.
There is also another problem which must be addressed quickly: Most soccer clubs -- with the exception of FC Sriwijaya in Palembang, South Sumatra (financed by fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Sriwijaya) and Arema in Malang, East Java (financed by cigarette company Bentoel) -- have been financed with provincial budgets.
The Home Affairs Ministry issued regulations earlier this year effectively banning administrations from funding soccer clubs.
For example, Persija of Jakarta received more than Rp 20 billion (US$2.13 million) from the Jakarta administration this year.
The ruling was meant to encourage all clubs to become more financially independent and start to look sponsorship or endorsement from private companies, but with silver spoons in their mouths, many clubs have said they are not ready to source their own funding.
The introduction of compulsory professional management will mean many clubs need to completely overhaul their organizations, especially in terms of accountability and disciplined financial reporting.
Local clubs have been long known to be involved in the rampant practice of match fixing, unfair games and bribery.
The last case, drawing public attention in July this year, implicated several second division clubs who claimed they paid huge sums to bribe top officials of the PSSI's disciplinary committee (which is supposed to be the last bastion of justice in the Indonesian soccer), in order to be placed in the first division.
PSSI, who were busy organizing the Asian Cup, failed follow the case up properly, and it was swept under the carpet.
Some sponsors said they were reluctant to fund local clubs due to the lack professionalism in club management and poor financial reporting. Those parties need to be assured their money is falling into in the right hands and will be spent responsibly.
The financing issue is pressing because beginning next year, no state funds are allowed to go to clubs.
Again, no solution is in sight. Some clubs have threatened the PSSI saying they will not participate in next year's competition, but the threats have apparently fallen on deaf ears with no concrete response from PSSI thus far.
In my dream, one day in 2022 I am slouching on my worn-out sofa in my low-cost apartment and I turn on my tiny TV set to watch a World Cup final match between Brazil and France ... during the match break, I see a news report: Indonesian soccer fans caught in a deadly brawl at a national league game. It was not very different case to this back in 2007 ... but that was just a dream, I hope.
