One legislator has dismissed a top Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) official’s concerns that government intervention in the election of PSSI’s chairman would draw sanctions from world soccer governing body FIFA.

“I think it would be better to receive a sanction from FIFA for two or three years, but then have new faces that can lead PSSI in a better way,” legislator I Gede Pasek Suardika said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Monday.

Suardika said incumbent PSSI chairman Nurdin Halid should learn from the experience of other national soccer bodies that were shut down by their respective governments.
Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng told the association on Monday to remain transparent and fair in the run up to the election at its congress in March in Bali.

The team tasked with certifying candidates for the election recently sidelined two top contenders: businessman and Indonesian Premier League initiator Arifin Panigoro and Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Toisutta.