Tag: Indonesia government

Indonesia arrests a fugitive former Filipino town mayor wanted for illegal online gaming scams

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A dismissed town mayor who fled the Philippines after being accused of helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam center catering mostly to clients in China has been arrested near Indonesia’s capital, officials said Wednesday.

Indonesian authorities arrested Alice Guo at a house in Jakarta’s satellite city of Tangerang just before midnight on Tuesday, according to Khrisna Murti, chief of the international division of the National Police.

Guo was in custody and awaiting deportation to the Philippines, Murti said, adding that her arrest was the result of “cooperation between Indonesian and Filipino’s police.”

Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. thanked the Indonesian authorities.

“Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice,” Marcos said and added that arrangements were being made to bring Guo back to the Philippines where she faces a slew of criminal charges.

After Guo fled the Philippines in July, she was tracked in Malaysia and Singapore before turning up in Indonesia. Two companions, who reportedly slipped out of the Philippines with her without going through normal immigration and clearing procedures, were recently arrested in Indonesia.

Guo ran as a Filipino candidate in 2022 elections and won as mayor of the rural town of Bamban in Tarlac province north of Manila. She was accused of helping establish a massive complex with several buildings near the town hall as a hub for an illegal online gambling and scam outfit that catered mostly to clients in China, where gambling is forbidden.

A Senate committee ordered Guo arrested after she refused to appear in hearings looking into the illegal gambling business that flourished under Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who nurtured cozy ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping while often criticizing the United States and European countries.

Guo has also been accused of concealing her Chinese nationality to run for public office, which is reserved for Filipino citizens only. At the time, a few senators suggested she may be working as a Chinese spy.

Guo has denied any wrongdoing but was dismissed from her post for grave misconduct by the Ombudsman, an agency that investigates and prosecutes government officials accused of crimes, including graft and corruption.

In July, Marcos ordered an immediate ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations, accusing them of involvement in human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.

The crackdown on the Chinese-run online gambling outfits — estimated to number more than 400 across the Philippines and employing tens of thousands of Chinese and Southeast Asian nationals — was backed by Beijing.

It resulted in the shutdown in the Philippines of sprawling complexes, where authorities suspect thousands of Chinese, Vietnamese and other nationals mostly from Southeast Asia have been illegally recruited and forced to work in dismal conditions.

Philippine senators say the massive online gambling industry has flourished largely due to corruption in government regulatory agencies and big payoffs to officials.

Indonesia and the Philippines signed an extradition agreement in 1976.

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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

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September 5, 2024
Indonesia’s new capital isn’t ready yet. The president is celebrating Independence Day there anyway

PENAJAM PASER UTARA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia marked 79 years of independence on Saturday with a ceremony in the unfinished future capital of Nusantara, which was planned to relieve pressure on Jakarta but whose construction has lagged behind schedule.

Hundreds of officials and invited guests wearing the traditional clothes of Indonesian tribes gathered on a stretch of grass amid the ongoing construction of government buildings and and view of construction cranes in the center of the Nusantara city.

President Joko Widodo and his Cabinet ministers attended the Independence Day ceremony at the new Presidential Palace, built in the shape of the mythical eagle-winged protector figure called Garuda.

The celebration was initially planned to inaugurate Nusantara as the country’s new capital, but with construction behind schedule it’s not clear when the transfer will take place.

Widodo said earlier in the week that 8,000 guests would be invited, but the number was later reduced to 1,300 because adequate infrastructure was not yet in place.

The celebration at the new State Palace on the island of Borneo was held simultaneously with a celebration at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta that was attended by Vice President Ma’ruf Amin.

Widodo began working at the new presidential palace in Nusantara in late July and held his first Cabinet meeting there on Tuesday.

More than 5,000 officers from Indonesia’s police and military were deployed for the ceremony and 76 honorary flag-bearers marched behind the national red-and-white banner.

A bearer is escorted by members of a honor guard as she carries the national Red-White flag to be hoisted during the ceremony marking Indonesia’s 79th anniversary of independence at the new presidential palace in its future capital of Nusantara, a city still under construction on the island of Borneo, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, hands national Red-White flag to a bearer to be hoisted during the ceremony marking Indonesia’s 79th anniversary of independence at the new presidential palace in its future capital of Nusantara, a city still under construction on the island of Borneo, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, second right, and his wife Iriana, right, confer with Defense Minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, second left, as House Speaker Puyan Maharani, left, looks on during the ceremony marking Indonesia’s 79th anniversary of independence at the new presidential palace in its future capital of Nusantara, a city still under construction on the island of Borneo, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

CORRECTS DATE – Soldiers march before the start of a ceremony marking Indonesia’s 79th anniversary of the independence at the new presidential palace in its future capital city of Nusantara, still under construction on the island of Borneo, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Jakarta, with about 10 million people in the city limits and three times that number in the greater metropolitan area, floods regularly and its streets are so clogged that congestion costs the economy an estimated $4.5 billion a year.

The air and groundwater in the old capital, on the northwestern coast of the Java island, are heavily polluted, and it has been described as the world’s most rapidly sinking city. It is estimated that one-third of the city could be submerged by 2050, because of uncontrolled groundwater extraction, as well as the rise of the Java Sea due to climate change.

The construction of the new capital began in mid-2022, spread over an area of about 2,600 square kilometers (1,000 square miles) carved out of Borneo’s jungle. Officials say it will be a futuristic green city with abundant forests and parks, powered by renewable energy sources and using smart waste management.

But the project has been dogged by criticism from environmentalists and Indigenous communities, who say it degrades the environment, further shrinks the habitat of endangered animals such as orangutans, and displaces Indigenous people who rely on the land for their livelihoods.

Since the start of construction, seven groundbreaking ceremonies have taken place for the construction of government and public buildings, as well as hotels, banks and schools.

With a population of about 275 million, Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Most of the new capital’s investors are Indonesian companies. The government is contributing 20% of the $33 billion budget and relying significantly on private sector investment for the rest.

To attract investors, Widodo recently offered incentives for the new capital, including land rights lasting up to 190 years and generous tax incentives. Widodo, who has led the country for 10 years, will leave office in October.

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Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.

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August 18, 2024
Indonesia’s leader highlights economic and infrastructure developments in his final state of nation

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s outgoing President Joko Widodo highlighted advances in the economy and infrastructure during his final State of the Nation address Friday.

Widodo said that in the 10 years he’s led the country, his administration controlled inflation, reduced rates of unemployment and extreme poverty, and built new infrastructure in parts of Indonesia that were difficult to reach and with limited resources.

“Furthermore, our resilience as a nation has been proven by our endurance in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, in facing climate change, and in facing the escalating global geopolitics,” Widodo said.

The Southeast Asian nation plays a crucial role in the economic and political dynamics of a region where global powers have been increasingly at odds over Taiwan, human rights issues, U.S. military presence, and Beijing’s assertive actions in contested areas like the South China Sea.

As a tropical archipelago on the equator, Indonesia has the world’s third-largest rainforest, home to diverse endangered species like orangutans and giant flowers. However, economic development has severely impacted these forests, making Indonesia one of the largest global emitters of greenhouse gases due to deforestation, fossil fuel use, and peatland fires, prompting the country’s push for a green energy transformation.

Widodo said Indonesia’s developments — particularly related to smelters and processing industries for commodities such as nickel, bauxite, and copper — would open up more than 200,000 jobs and increase state revenues.

With a population of about 275 million, Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and has the largest reserves of nickel in the world. Aiming to dominate the world’s nickel supply, the country has gone from having two nickel smelters to 27 over the last decade, with 22 more planned, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. In 2023, the country was responsible for more than half the supply of nickel ore globally.

But, Widodo said, 10 years is not enough time to achieve the goals his government set out to accomplish.

Widodo, popularly known by his nickname Jokowi, began his second and final five-year term in October 2019 and is not eligible to run again. After a February election, Indonesia’s electoral commission formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in April with Widodo’s son, the 36-year-old former Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as vice president. The highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory lodged by two losing presidential candidates.

Widodo will leave office in October, leaving behind a notable legacy that includes the ambitious $33 billion megaproject to transfer Indonesia’s overcrowded capital from Jakarta to the nation’s future capital of Nusantara, in the burgeoning frontier island of Borneo.

Widodo also calls on his successors, President-elect Prabowo Subianto, to continue the leadership of the country, saying he has faith the country will “achieve the 2045 Golden Indonesia vision,” — referring to Indonesia’s goal to become a sovereign, advanced, fair and prosperous country by 2045, when it will celebrate 100 years of independence.

“Allow me to pass the leadership baton to you. Allow me also to share with you the hopes and dreams of all Indonesian people from Sabang to Merauke, from Miangas to the Island of Rote, from the peripheries, from the outermost regions, from rural and urban areas to you,” Widodo said.

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August 16, 2024
ASEAN leaders to tackle regional crises at tropical resort

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia (AP) — A picturesque tourist destination will host crisis-weary Southeast Asian leaders with sun-splashed tropical islands, turquoise waters brimming with corals and manta rays, seafood feasts, and a hillside savannah crawling with Komodo dragons.

The sunshiny setting is a stark contrast to the seriousness of their agenda.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo picked the far-flung, rustic harbor town of Labuan Bajo as a laidback venue to discuss an agenda rife with contentious issues. These include the continuing bloody civil strife in Myanmar and the escalating territorial conflicts in the South China Sea between fellow leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The 10-nation regional bloc and its member states will meet for three days starting Tuesday, with the growing rivalry between the United States and China as a backdrop.

U.S. President Joe Biden has been reinforcing an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to better counter China over Taiwan and the long-seething territorial conflicts in the strategic South China Sea which involve four ASEAN members: Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Indonesia, this year’s ASEAN chair, has also confronted Chinese fishing fleets and coast guard that have strayed into what Jakarta says was its internationally recognized exclusive economic zone in the gas-rich Natuna Sea.

Widodo, who’s in his final year on the world stage as he reaches the end of his two-term limit, said ASEAN aims to collaborate with any country to solve problems through dialogue.

That includes Myanmar where, two years after the military power grab that forced out Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration and sparked a bloody civil strife, ASEAN has failed to rein in the violence in its member state. A five-point peace plan by ASEAN leaders and the top Myanmar general, which calls for an immediate stop to killings and other violence and the start of a national dialogue, has been disregarded by Myanmar’s ruling military.

ASEAN stopped inviting Myanmar’s military leaders to its semiannual summits and would only allow non-political representatives to attend. Myanmar has protested the move.

In an additional concern involving Myanmar, Indonesian officials said Sunday that 20 of their nationals, who were trafficked into Myanmar and forced to perform cyber scams, had been freed from Myanmar’s Myawaddy township and brought to the Thai border over the weekend. During the summit, ASEAN leaders planned to express their concern over such human trafficking schemes in a joint statement, a draft copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said her country, as ASEAN chair, has tackled the Myanmar crisis in a non-adversarial way.

“Colleagues certainly know that in the early stages of its leadership, Indonesia decided to take a non-megaphone diplomacy approach,” Marsudi said. “The aim is to provide space for the parties to build trust and for the parties to be more open in communicating.”

Widodo’s choice of a seaside venue with stunning sunrises and sunsets and the sound of birds chirping all day complements that approach.

The Indonesian leader also hoped the high-profile ASEAN summit would put Labuan Bajo and outlying islands, dotted with white-sand beaches and even a rare pink-sand beach, under the global tourism spotlight.

“This is a very good moment for us to host the ASEAN summit and showcase Labuan Bajo to the world,” said Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who flew in Sunday with his wife to a red-carpet welcome flanked by military honor guards and dancing villagers with flower-filled headwear.

But there are a few hitches.

The far-flung fishing town with only three traffic lights and about 6,000 residents is acutely short of hotels for ASEAN’s swarm of diplomats, delegates and journalists. Many had to arrange to share rooms.

Unlike the more popular Bali resort island or the bustling concrete jungle of a capital Jakarta, which has hosted international conclaves in upscale hotels and convention centers, Labuan Bajo is a far smaller town that a visitor could cross from end to end with a brisk two-hour walk. There are no public buses, and villagers mostly move around by walking, riding scooters or driving private cars.

A small team of local technicians with hard hats were flown in to lay cables and expand internet connections at the venues on short notice.

On Sunday, Labuan Bajo’s small airport was jampacked with visitors. Teams of diplomats and journalists arrived to welcome streamers announcing the upbeat summit motto, “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.”

Outside the airport named after the Komodo dragons, traffic quickly built up under the brutal noontime sun.

When the sun rose Monday morning, workers were still cementing some roadsides around the venues — a day before the summit opening.

Andre Kurniawan, who works at a dive center in Labuan Bajo, said the infrastructure developments would be a boon for Labuan Bajo villagers. “We were isolated from some areas before and now they are open and the areas are getting better. I hope that Labuan Bajo can be a better tourist town in the future,” he said.

Azril Azahari, chair of an association of Indonesian academic experts on tourism, told the AP that Labuan Bajo was not ready and apparently was chosen to host the summit on short notice. “The hotel facilities and the lodging have become a problem. There is a ship being used for accommodation and it’s not a lodging ship,” he said.

Welcoming visitors to her coffee shop ahead of the summit, Suti Ana said even though it wasn’t the best time for Labuan Bajo to host, ASEAN would boost local businesses. “But we cannot wait, so this is the time,” she said.

Choosing the small port town was not a bad idea, Azril said, if it came with adequate planning and government investments in infrastructure.

Located on the western tip of Flores island in southern Indonesia, Labuan Bajo, aside from its beaches and diving and snorkeling spots, has been better known as the gateway to the Komodo National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage site and the only place in the world where Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards, are found in the wild.

Environmentalists and tourism analysts fear that a wider public interest could put further stress on the already endangered Komodo dragons. Only about 3,300 were known to exist as of 2022.

“If more people come, sooner or later the Komodo dragons cannot breed in peace, this can be a problem,” Azahari said, citing longstanding fears that the Komodos could face extinction without full protection.

Despite the odds, Indonesian officials said they would do everything to successfully and safely host the ASEAN summit in Labuan Bajo.

“If there’s any commotion along the way, that will be a big stain on the nation’s dignity,” Edistasius Endi, the regent of Labuan Najo’s West Manggarai district, said in a statement.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Gomez and Achmad Ibrahim contributed to this report.

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Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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May 12, 2023
ASEAN ministers urge reduced violence, dialogue in Myanmar

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers urged Myanmar’s military rulers on Friday to reduce violence and allow unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to pave the way for a national dialogue aimed at ending the country’s worsening crisis.

Meeting in Indonesia’s capital, the ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also granted observer status to East Timor, Asia’s newest nation, ahead of it becoming the regional bloc’s 11th member.

Myanmar is an ASEAN member, but its foreign minister was excluded from Friday’s annual ministers’ retreat because of his country’s failure to implement a five-step consensus on restoring peace forged in 2021 between ASEAN and Myanmar’s military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who hosted Friday’s meetings, said the ministers agreed that an inclusive national dialogue “is key to finding a peaceful resolution to the situation in Myanmar,” and that reducing violence and providing humanitarian assistance are “paramount for building trust and confidence.”

She said the lack of progress in Myanmar “tests our credibility” as a group, and that ASEAN’s efforts toward peace would be coordinated with those of other countries and the United Nations.

Myanmar’s military leader promised in the five-point agreement to allow a special ASEAN envoy to meet with jailed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others to foster a dialogue aimed at easing the crisis, set off by the military’s seizure of power two years ago. But Myanmar refused to let an ASEAN envoy meet with Suu Kyi last year, resulting in Min Aung Hlaing’s exclusion from an ASEAN summit last November.

The increasing violence in Myanmar since the military takeover loomed large over the foreign ministers’ meetings, even as Indonesia, this year’s ASEAN chair, sought to dampen concerns that the crisis will overshadow other issues and hold the bloc “hostage.”

In her opening remarks, Marsudi said the ministers were meeting in the midst of immense global challenges in which the Indo-Pacific region is not immune, including geopolitical, food, energy, financial and ecological crises, as well as major power rivalries that could spill over and potentially destabilize the region.

The ministers warmly applauded the East Timor delegation as it participated in an ASEAN ministerial meeting for the first time.

“It is a crucial steppingstone in our long journey to join the big family of the ASEAN community,” East Timor Foreign Minister Adaljiza Magno said,

ASEAN agreed in principle to admit East Timor as the group’s 11th member at last November’s ASEAN summit.

East Timor applied for full membership in ASEAN in 2011, but some members feared its poverty would be a burden and slow efforts to achieve an ASEAN Economic Community.

The U.N. estimates that nearly half of East Timor’s population lives below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 a day, and that 42 of every 1,000 babies die before their fifth birthday because of malnutrition.

The former Portuguese colony was occupied by Indonesia for a quarter-century and gained independence after a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999. Indonesia’s military responded with scorched-earth attacks that devastated East Timor.

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February 3, 2023
UN Secretary-General: World has failed strife-torn Myanmar

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the world has failed Myanmar, and is expressing hope the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be able to pressure the member state to comply with its plan for peace over the next year

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that the world had failed Myanmar, and expressed hope the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would be able to pressure the member state to comply with its plan for peace over the next year.

ASEAN leaders at the group’s ongoing summit in Phnom Penh agreed on a plan Friday that largely puts the onus on Indonesia when it takes over the group’s rotating chair in 2023 to develop measurable indicators and a timeline for Myanmar to implement the so-called five-point consensus for peace.

Indonesia has been one of the ASEAN countries most outspoken about the need to do more to address the situation in Myanmar, and Guterres told reporters he felt “the Indonesian government will be able to push forward the agenda in a positive way.”

The ASEAN decision announced Friday includes asking the U.N. and other “external partners” for assistance in supporting the group’s efforts. Guterres said he hoped the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, would cooperate closely with her ASEAN counterpart to bring about an end to the “dramatic violations of human rights” in the country.

“Everybody has failed in relation to Myanmar,” Guterres said. “The international community as a whole has failed, and the U.N. is part of the international community.”

ASEAN’s peace plan calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all sides.

Myanmar’s government initially agreed to the plan but has made little effort to implement it.

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November 11, 2022
Russia’s Putin won’t attend upcoming G-20 summit in Bali

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, an Indonesian government official said Thursday, avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over his war in Ukraine.

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for G-20 events, said Putin’s decision not to come was “the best for all of us.”

U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to attend the two-day summit that starts Nov. 15. The summit would have been the first time Biden and Putin were together at a gathering since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is hosting the event on the island of Bali.

“It has been officially informed that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit, and will be represented by a high-level official, and this has been discussed by President Joko Widodo and Putin in previous telephone conversations,” Pandjaitan said after meeting security officials in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.

“Whatever happens with Russia’s decision, it is for our common good and the best for all of us,” added Pandjaitan, who is is also the coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment. He said earlier that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation.

Pandjaitan did not know why Putin decided not to come but said “maybe it’s because President Putin is busy at home, and we also have to respect that.” Pandjaitan confirmed the same reasons may be keeping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at home as well.

Widodo earlier this year travelled to Kyiv and Moscow in an effort to get the two leaders to sit down in Bali and make peace.

Putin’s decision not to attend the G-20 comes as Russia’s forces in Ukraine have suffered significant setbacks. Russia’s military said it will withdraw from Kherson, which is the only Ukrainian regional capital it captured and a gateway to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Russia’s announced retreat from Kherson along with a potential stalemate in fighting over the winter could provide both countries an opportunity to negotiate peace, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday.

He said as many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “well over” 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war, now in its ninth month. “Same thing probably on the Ukrainian side,” Milley added.

The G-20 is the biggest of three summits being held in Southeast Asia this week and next, and it remained unclear if Lavrov will represent Russia at all of them. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit began Thursday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, followed by the G-20 and then the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

Biden will attend ASEAN and the G-20 while Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to APEC. Biden is expected to meet with Xi in Bali.

Biden had ruled out meeting with Putin if he had attended the summit, and said the only conversation he could have possibly had with the Russian leader would be to discuss a deal to free Americans imprisoned in Russia.

Biden administration officials said they had been coordinating with global counterparts to isolate Putin if he had decided to participate either in person or virtually. They have discussed boycotts or other displays of condemnation.

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November 9, 2022
FIFA won’t sanction Indonesia over fatal crush, Widodo says

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s president said the country will not face sanctions from soccer’s world governing body after the firing of tear gas inside a half-locked stadium caused a crush at the exits, killing 131 people, including 17 children.

Joko Widodo said FIFA President Giani Infantino wrote in a letter to him about potential collaborations between Indonesia and FIFA and the country will remain the host of next year’s U-20 World Cup joined by 24 countries from five continents.

“Based on the letter, thank God, Indonesian is not sanctioned by FIFA,” Widodo said in a video posted on the presidential office’s YouTube channel late Friday.

In its security protocols, FIFA advises against the use of tear gas in or around stadiums and recommends exit gates be unlocked at all times during a game. While those rules are considered a safety standard, they don’t apply to domestic or national leagues and FIFA has no authority over how local governments and police control crowds.

Widodo toured the Kanjuruhan soccer stadium in Malang city on Wednesday and said several locked gates had contributed to the disaster that followed a league game between host Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya on Oct. 1. The national police chief on Thursday said the stadium did not have a proper operating certificate and criminal charges would be brought against six people, including three police officers.

Indonesia’s national soccer association, known locally as PSSI, has long struggled to manage the game domestically.

Gaining the right to host next year’s Under-20 World Cup was a major milestone in Indonesia’s soccer development, raising hopes that a successful tournament would turn around longstanding problems that have blighted the sport in the nation, home to more than 277 million people.

The deadly crush at is a tragic reminder, however, that Indonesia is one of the most dangerous countries in which to attend a game.

Since last week, the domestic league has been suspended. Widodo has ordered the sports minister, the national police chief and the soccer federation to conduct a thorough investigation into the deadly stadium crush.

He said on Friday that Indonesian government has agreed to take collaborative measures with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation to improve stadium safety to prevent another tragedy.

“FIFA, together with the government will set a transformation team for Indonesian ,” Widodo said, adding that Infantino would also to visit Indonesia in the near future.

He said that FIFA will be based in Indonesia during these processes to improve safety standards at all football stadiums across the country, formulate security procedures and protocols for the police based on international standards, take feedback from Indonesian football clubs and fans, regulate season calendar under risk-based considerations as well as to involve experts from various fields for advice.

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October 8, 2022