KUALA LUMPUR: The Indonesian government has apologised to Malaysia over the unruly behaviour of fans at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium during the tense Indonesia-Malaysia football match yesterday night.
The apology and expression of regret over the misconduct of Indonesian supporters were conveyed by the country’s Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi during a face-to-face meeting with Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
News of the meeting at a hotel in Jakarta was shared by Syed Saddiq on his Instagram account and Imam’s Facebook page yesterday, where both recorded a video together.
“In the name of the administration and supporters, Indonesia apologises to all Malaysians for the incident at GBK last night, and he (Syed Saddiq) has accepted our apology.
“He also hoped for just action to be taken against the offenders who had blemished the image of the game.
“Football will unite us always, and we will take care of our relationship with our Malaysian family forever,” Imam said in the video.
Syed Saddiq in return, expressed his appreciation for Imam’s statement of apology and hoped for a thorough and fair investigation to be conducted.
“We want to ensure that Malaysia and Indonesia will forever be together,” he said.
“Don’t let a few bad apples damage our friendship.”
In reply, Imam said: “We will always be together”.
On Thursday, Syed Saddiq tweeted that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) would be filing a formal complaint to the International Football Federation (Fifa) on the incident, adding that he would personally lodge a formal complaint with the Indonesian government.
During the match, Harimau Malaya went head-to-head with the Garuda squad in the Group G match for the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup Second Qualifying Round.
However, the showdown was marred by rioting by a portion of the 50,000 Indonesian fans, who threw bottles, flares and pieces of metal from the upper section of the stadium onto Malaysian fans.
The incident forced South Korean referee, Ko Hyungjin, to stop the play for almost 10 minutes when both teams were tied at 2-2.
The match resumed once the situation was brought under control and Malaysia eventually scored a dramatic 3-2 win over Indonesia – a triumph which saw Harimau Malaya, under coach Tan Cheng Hoe, earn three points from the game.
It was reported that two Malaysians were injured during the incident.
One broke his arm due to a fall as he was trying to escape the commotion, and the other sustained a head injury when a bottle was thrown at him.
Both received medical treatment at a hospital in Jakarta.
Following that, Malaysians took to social media to express regret over the incident, with a Twitter user, @HensemAbu calling on Fifa to take appropriate action.
“Dear Fifa. Kindly take a look and take action accordingly. #ultrasmalaya #HarimauMalaya #indonesiavsmalaysia,” he wrote.
Another social media user who goes by Twitter handle @aimanNorpandi said: “Thanks to Indonesian fans for throwing bottles and rocks at our fans so that the officials could give us 8+ injury time, long enough for us to make an epic comeback at your home ground #IndonesiaVsMalaysia,”
Another Twitter user Afiq Rodzi expressed hope that Malaysian supporters would not behave the same way when the Garuda come for the return leg in Kuala Lumpur in November.
“Hopefully, Malaysian supporters would not do the same in Bukit Jalil. We are way better than that! #SelamanyaHarimauMalaya,” said Afiq who goes by Twitter handle @fiqrodz96.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a brief statement criticised the brawl while expressing sadness over the reported injuries sustained by fans from both teams.
“AFC stresses that football in Asia stands for fairness and integrity.
“Such incidents have no place in football and it does nothing to enhance the image of the game across not only our continent, but also the rest of the world,” said AFC.
Fracas have occurred on a number of occasions when the Malaysian and Indonesian football teams clashed.
In July last year, the Malaysian football team were attacked with stones and bottles by Indonesian fans in the semi-final of the AFF Under-19 Cup at Stadium Gelora Delta in Sidoarjo, Indonesia.
The incident happened after the Harimau Malaya team beat the Garuda squad 3-2 on penalties. The two teams were tied at 1-1 after extra time.