Indonesia stadium stampede: Police chief transferred; 9 cops removed from their posts
The Straits Times/ ANN
Arema FC players and coaches lay flowers at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, Indonesia, on Monday to honour the victims of the stampede. ST PHOTO: WAHYUDI SOERIAATMADJA
Dozens of Indonesian police were placed under investigation on Monday over a stampede at a football match that killed at least 125 people, as the authorities sought to determine what caused one of the world’s deadliest stadium disasters and who was to blame.
Panicked spectators were crushed on Saturday as they tried to flee the overcrowed stadium in Malang, East Java, after police fired tear gas to disperse fans of Arema FC, who had poured onto the pitch after a 3-2 home defeat to Persebaya Surabaya.
Football’s world governing body Fifa stipulates no “crowd control gas” should be used at matches, and Mr Choirul Anam, a commissioner for Indonesian rights body Komnas HAM, told a news briefing that if gas had not been fired, “maybe there wouldn’t have been chaos”.
The death toll was the largest at a football match since 1964, when 328 were killed in a crush as Peru hosted Argentina in Lima.
Nine police officers were stripped of their positions and the local police chief transferred, police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said, adding that 28 officers were under investigation.
The decision to use tear gas was among the issues being looked into, he added.
Mourners gathered outside the stadium on Monday.
Some scattered flowers over an Arema club shirt while others prayed quietly or wept, among them the club’s manager Ali Fikri.
Chief security minister Mahfud MD said the government would form a fact-finding team, comprising academics, football experts and officials, to probe the incident.
“They have been asked… in the next coming days to reveal the culprits that were involved in the crime,” Dr Mahfud told a news conference.
A government official said those killed on Saturday included 32 minors.
President Joko Widodo ordered the football federation to suspend all top-flight matches until the investigation is complete.
The Koran Tempo newspaper ran a black front page on Monday, centred on the words “Our Football Tragedy” printed in red along with a list of the dead.
Dr Mahfud said victims’ families would receive 50 million rupiah (S$4,700) in compensation and treatment for hundreds more injured would be free.
On Sunday, he said the crowd was beyond capacity, with 42,000 tickets sold for a match in an arena designed to hold 38,000.
The authorities said, however, that tickets had not been issued to Persebaya fans over security concerns.
Fifa, which called the incident “a tragedy beyond comprehension”, has asked Indonesian football authorities for a full report.
A tearful Arema FC president Gilang Widya Pramana apologised to the victims on Monday and said he was ready to take full responsibility.
Indonesia’s hopes of hosting world sports events in future will depend on the credibility of its investigation into the football stadium disaster and safety reforms, analysts have warned.
Analysts said that while there have been similar tragedies in other countries – although rarely on such a scale – it will undoubtedly affect Indonesia’s reputation when it comes to hosting big international competitions.
It could not have come at a worse time – Indonesia has bid to replace China as hosts for next year’s Asian Cup football and a decision is due in two weeks.
The archipelago country of about 270 million people will also host the Fifa U-20 World Cup in May. There have been calls online for Indonesia to be stripped of that right.
