TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Social media account of Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo was suddenly loaded with comments criticizing the governor after FIFA officially stripped Indonesia from hosting the U-20 World Cup.

One of the main reasons for FIFA’s move is believed to be caused by the wave of rejection against Israel’s national team in the football competition, where Ganjar was one of the prominent figures who vocally expressed it.

Criticism also came from those directly affected by the cancelation, such as Hokky Caraka, who is one of the players in Indonesia’s U-20 national team.

“Thank you deeply, sir. And yes we are aware that your future is guaranteed to be good. But how about us? We are still at the start of improving our careers but our stepping stone has been destroyed by you,” Hokky stated on March 30.

Hokky was one of the many Indonesian U-20 national football team members who expressed their despair on Ganjar Pranowo’s social media post. Another comment came from Hokky’s fellow athlete Ginanjar Wahyu.

“It hurts too much for us to lose the opportunity to appear in a world cup at home. This is actually the dream of all Indonesians. Thank you for curbing our dreams,” he stated.

Until this report was published, Ganjar’s social media post already garnered 224,000 comments despite only uploading his post 13 hours ago.

Ganjar Voiced Rejection Against Israel’s U-20 Participation

Ganjar Pranowo's argued that his rejection of the Israeli team in playing in Indonesia is a manifestation of his commitment to efforts for Palestinian independence mandated by the first Indonesian President, Soekarno, which was also written in the preamble to the 1945 Constitution.

Ganjar was on record stating that as a cadre for the political party in power PDI Perjuangan, he would uphold Bung Karno's mandate upon supporting Palestine’s independence.

"We already know [Soekarno's] commitment to Palestine, both voiced at the Asian-African Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement, and at the Conference of the New Emerging Forces. So yes, we will follow his mandate," said the governor on March 23.

Ganjar argues that acts of violence continue to occur in Palestine. "Therefore, it is important for us to continue to voice our support for the Palestinian struggle for independence," he said.

He had also asked the committee for the U-20 World Cup to conjure up a solution so that the interstate tournament could continue to be held without Israel’s participation.

FIFA has officially revoked Indonesia’s status as host of the U-20 World Cup 2023 after a meeting between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) chairperson Erick Thohir at Doha on March 29. This directly follows prior events that saw the cup draw postponed due to vocal rejection from notable figures against the participation of the Israel national team.

An official FIFA statement was published on its website that reads: “Following today’s meeting between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and President of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) Erick Thohir, FIFA has decided, due to the current circumstances, to remove Indonesia as the host of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023.”

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH

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