Few days ago, APPI got visited by delegations from FIFPro and FIFPro Asia. The delegation consisted of Brendan Schwab, one of the vice-president of FIFPro World which also served as president of FIFPro Asia. As well as Frederique Winia, FIFPro world of international relations division, which also doubles as the secretary general of FIFPro Asia.

Their visit aimed at a working meeting with all executive committee members and officials of APPI. The meeting discussed about all the problems regarding the violations of the rights of the professional footballer in Indonesia which affecting both of local and foreign footboallers.

Furthermore, we also have special agenda to have hearings with the two institutions which are closely associated with all problems in Indonesian football; PSSI in their capacity as a federation of football for all football clubs in Indonesia and also The Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs as the government body for all Indonesia sports federation.

At our meeting with PSSI, APPI and FIFPro conveyed some basic information that have been agreed and written in a MoU by FIFA and FIFPro since 2 November 2006. FIFA and FIFPro agreed to mutually recognize, acknowledge and cooperate with each other. As the official representative of the two parties involved in the football industry, the players (FIFPro) and club (FIFA).

The MoU was signed by Joseph S. Blatter, the FIFA president, and also as president FIFPro, Philippe Piat. Due to that agreement, all organizations that stand under the two organizations (FIFPro and FIFA) automatically also be subject to all of the content of the MoU.
Therefore when APPI and FIFPro visited PSSI, we tried to convey three things are also listed in the rules of the game between the FIFPro and FIFA.

The three things are:

First: Asked PSSI to acknowledge the existence of APPI, which in this case as the sole representative organization of professional footballers in Indonesia, which is recognized and affiliated with FIFPro, in accordance with the memorandum of understanding between the FIFPro and FIFA.

Second: Asked PSSI for an immediate settlement or before the new season begins at the latest - regarding all the arrears of salaries matter to footballers in Indonesia. And if there is a club that has not completed its obligations until the specified time limit, we asked PSSI to exclude such club in the new competition which will be started in February 2014.

This is in accordance with the FIFA licensing agreement, which enforced and monitored closely by FIFA.

And third: Ask for an assurance of protection for professional footballers in Indonesia which includes; good health insurance coverage as well as the on-time salary payment in accordance with FIFA regulations for the new 2013/2014 league.

It concerns the standard minimum contract of the footballers and also regarding the establishment of  National Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) as the dispute resolution body to settle the dispute between the footballer with the club in Indonesia.

But it seems that PSSI - which at that time represented by Mr. Zulfadly and Roberto Rouw (Exco Member PSSI), and Mr. Azwan Karim (Managers Public Relations of PT Liga Indonesia), still persist with their decisions and beliefs according to the results of the PSSI congress some time ago - Which only recognizes their own association footballer APSNI (National Football Players Association of Indonesia) formed by them, as the sole representative in Indonesian footballer.

They also still promised to give an immediate help in the completion of the entire arrears of salary to the footballers. They also stated that they have established the dispute resolution council (Dispute Resolution Chamber), to settle the between the player with the club.

And this is where the problems become even more complicated. Why is that? First, it does not make sense when the players\' association is formed by PSSI as the federation, not by the professional footballer itself. It means that it is not an independent footballer association.
It becomes very vital, because it relates to whether the association will truly express the aspirations of a professional footballer or just the puppet of the federation.

One of the example is during the conflict of football in Indonesia within the last two years, we have never heard APSNI - as the footballer association formed by the PSSI, fight or even voicing for the rights of professional footballers in Indonesia, which have been hurt so badly.
Secondly, a dispute resolution body or DRC (Dispute Resolution Chamber) should be established by agreement between the two parties, in this case, the representative footballer, and also representatives of the club.

The DRC in this case can also be analogous to a referee who will be in charge of leading a football match. If the referee who led the game leans to one side, it is unlikely that one party will only be the victim. This is where the importance of why the DRC should be established based on the recommendation of both parties.

This is similiar with the DRC as the dispute resolution body to settle the issue between the FIFPro and FIFA. The DRC consists of 10 representatives proposed by and to represent FIFPro as well as 10 representatives proposed by and to represent FIFA. Besides, there are also several neutral members, the designated by mutual agreement of both parties.

If it is so, then the referee is almost certainly going to be fair in leading and overseeing a match, he will not be inclined to one side.
It will become a major hurricane, if the footballer association and dispute resolution chamber (DRC), both established and under the control of the PSSI. Then it can potentially make any "omissions"  which in this case would be very detrimental to the professional footballer.

If professional footballers in Indonesia are not united to reject this, we can clearly imagine what will happen to our professional footballer in the future.

If PSSI objected APPI request (for PSSI to run the 3 basic things, which also stated inside the agreement between FIFA and FIFPro) then What\'s wrong with PSSI?

On the next day when APPI met with the Minister of Sports, we asked the Minister of Sports to be able to well-perform its functions. In this case is to oversee the completion of the problem, which occurs between the professional footballers in Indonesia, clubs and PSSI.

Because as an arm of government, the Minister certainly entitled and obliged to participate, in finding the way out for the settlement of the problems occurred.

As we all know, some time ago PSSI secretary-general Joko Driono gave an official statement to the public. A statement which more or less stating that All of the contestants were given a chance to complete its obligations to players before the new season\'s competition held at the latest.

And for those clubs who have not completed their obligations to the specified deadline, they will not be included in the new league/ competition which will be started next year.

This is a very interesting thing for us to see, whether existing regulations will actually be implemented,or they will annul the regulation just like last year where teams who have not completed their obligations still allowed to compete in the league.

We all football lovers in this Republic will be a witness. Whether PSSI will be able to maintain its credibility as an organization, or will be indecisive like before . Time will tell everything.

The end....