125 People Died in Kanjuruhan Stadium Tragedy, Who's Responsible?

TheIndonesia.id - Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD has stated that the government establishes an independent joint fact-finding team to investigate the Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy in Malang, East Java, on Saturday. This tragedy kills 125 people.

"To investigate the Kanjuruhan Stadium incident that occurred on October 1, 2022, the government has established an independent fact-finding team," Mahfud stated at a press conference at the coordinating ministry office here, Monday, October 3, 2022.

The decision to form the fact-finding team was agreed upon at a coordination meeting involving various government ministers, police and military commanders, the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI), and the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) earlier on Monday, he noted.

Mahfud said he would preside over the fact-finding team, and officials from relevant ministries and government institutions, professional football organizations, observers, academics, and mass media would take part as team members. He affirmed that the fact-finding team members would be announced in the next 24 hours to promptly commence a two- to three-week-long investigation into the tragedy.

While waiting for the fact-finding team works, the government will take short-term measures to respond to the incident, such as by instructing the police to investigate individuals responsible for the crowd crush and reveal the names to the public, the coordinating minister noted.

"The police has been instructed to evaluate security arrangements in respective regions," Mahfud said.

The government has also instructed TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa to take action against TNI officers allegedly involved in the incident, as depicted in viral videos circulating on social media. "Circulating videos in social media depicted TNI officers committing excessive acts beyond their authority. To know whether the video is real or not, the TNI commander will investigate and report its results to all of us," the coordinating minister said.

Who is to blame?

A lawmaker accused PT. The New Indonesia League (LIB), which is the organizer, has ignored the recommendation of the Police to limit the number of spectators during the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya.

"PT. Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) must be held accountable, they ignored the recommendations of the local police to limit the number of spectators and accelerate the hours of matches," said a member of parliament Andi Rio in Jakarta, Monday.

He said the police's recommendation would have anticipated the potential for riots to arise in the match between the two rivalry clubs. Andi Rio asked the government to evaluate PT. LIB due to the deaths of hundreds of spectators in the Arema FC match against Persebaya which set a bad precedent for the world of national football in the eyes of the world.

The tear gas fired by the police was also accused of triggering the death of more than one hundred Arema FC supporters after the chaos at the Kanjuruhan Stadium, Kepanjen, Malang Regency. The firing of tear gas into the stands caused panic so the audience tried to escape by looking for an exit.

As a result, it caused a bottleneck phenomenon that drives the victim to be pressed on or have difficulty breathing.

This incident is still being investigated by the Indonesian authorities, while PSSI and PT Liga Indonesia Baru immediately suspended the Indonesian Liga 1 competition and banned Arema FC from playing at their home ground until the 2022-2023 season was over.

President Joko Widodo also ordered a full investigation into the incident that claimed so many victims, including children and teenagers. Finding the cause of this incident is also a very important part, and one of the factors that cannot be ruled out is the use of tear gas.