Public Content with Erick Thohir Post U-20 World Cup Cancelation: LSI Poll

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The latest poll by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) in March found respondents agreeing that Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) President Erick Thohir had fought his utmost to envision Indonesia’s status as a host for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.  

This comes even after the international football organization revoked the host status following a number of controversies. 80.6 percent of respondents believe Erick – who also assumes the position as SOEs Minister – had done everything he could to reverse FIFA’s decision. 

There were only 12.9 percent who were not pleased with the result of Erick’s lobby to FIFA. LSI reports that the survey was conducted using a random digit dialing method across 1,229 respondents, and has a 2.9 percent margin of error, and 95 percent reputability. 

"If you look at it, Erick Thohir has maximized his efforts. The public also evaluates this and I agree personally. It's just that the government cannot control the actions of our politicians regarding the issue of rejection of Israel," said football observer Kesit B. Handoyo.

However, he noted that the situation would not have ended as badly as it was if it were handled assertively from the beginning. 

“PSSI was a victim too. In such a situation, it would be really challenging for Thohir to fix it despite maximized efforts. But we must remain grateful that FIFA had not imposed heavy sanctions,” he elaborated. 

Another expert in the football field, Muhammad Kusnaeni, assented to the same opinion and hopes that the government will provide full support to sports stakeholders in the future.

"It's also ironic that people like Erick Thohir have struggled to the fullest, and are in line with the President's directives, not receiving support from other sectors. PSSI and other sports officials must sit at the same table with the government. We must decide what position the sport will be in the future," said Kusnaeni.

Sports and Politics 

Apart from acknowledging Erick Thohir’s efforts on damage limitation, 79.6 percent of respondents agree that sports must be separated from politics while 12.0 percent were not in agreement. 

Public support for Indonesia to host the U-20 World Cup was also evident in the poll with 64.1 percent regretting the rejection of Israel’s national football team attendance that led to the cancelation. 28.7 percent answered that they had no problem with FIFA canceling Indonesia’s status as the U-20 World Cup host.

"The rules in sports are clear, it differs from politics. If we want to host a major sporting event, we cannot reject countries that do not have diplomatic relations to come and compete," said Kusnaeni in referring to the protest against Israel’s presence in the World Cup.

The host status cancellation for the U-20 World Cup is the only severe sanction from FIFA because other sanctions are relatively light, with only a freeze on FIFA Forward funding, and not a ban on participating in international competitions or other serious sanctions.

ANTARA | SKOR.ID | LSI

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