WHO IS ERICK THOHIR?
After his appointment, Mr Thohrir pledged to overhaul the entire football ecosystem in Indonesia.
“We will have a blueprint for medium-term and long-term, and this is our commitment,” he said after the new committee met President Joko Widodo on Feb 20.
He said that the government is ready to support PSSI, adding that the police would help them eradicate football mafias behind match-fixing cases.
Mr Thohir, 52, is a well-known figure in Indonesia. He has been the country’s Minister of State-owned Enterprises since October 2019, at the start of Mr Widodo’s second and last term in office.
Before being a minister, Mr Thohir was widely known as a businessman, media mogul and sports enthusiast.
He once owned foreign football clubs such as Inter Milan and DC United. He also owned NBA club Philadelphia 76ers.
He is the founder of Mahaka Group, a holding company of several companies focusing primarily on entertainment and media.
Mr Thohir was head of the organising committee of the 2018 Asian Games, which Indonesia hosted simultaneously in Jakarta and Palembang city in Sumatra.
Despite initial doubts about whether Indonesia could successfully host it due to last-minute venue readiness issues, Mr Thohir proved critics wrong.
After a successful 2018 Asian Games, Mr Widodo then entrusted him with the role of leading his campaign team for the April 2019 presidential election.
“Everything he led was always successful. We still remember he was the chairman of the 2018 Asian Games organising committee,” cited Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, in September 2018.
According to the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission, Mr Thohir’s estimated wealth in 2021 was about 2.3 trillion rupiah (US$150 million), making him one of the wealthiest ministers in the current Cabinet.
Besides his new role as the head of the PSSI, Mr Thohir has also been making headlines as a potential vice presidential candidate for next year’s election.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) on Sunday (Feb 26) expressed its support for Mr Thohir to be the country’s vice president in 2024, pairing him with Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo as president.
This led some to say there may be a conflict of interests should Mr Thohir run in the upcoming election.
But analyst Mr Lhaksana says it is not an issue.
“If you look at the previous heads of the PSSI, there were no conflicts of interest, yet there was almost no result of their chairmanship.
“So, I don’t see this as a problem because he is already rich, and I don’t think he is hungry for power. I think he has good intentions, so it doesn’t matter,” he said.
Source: CNA
