• 131 people were killed this weekend in a stampede in the Malang stadium in Indonesia.

  • President Joko Widodo went there on the island of Java on Wednesday.

  • He promised an audit of all football stadiums in the country.

"Doors closed, stairs too steep" ... Beyond a commitment to find the "root cause" of the stampede that killed 131 people last weekend, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Wednesday that he would ask an audit of all football stadiums in the country.

The Head of State made this promise during his visit to Malang, on the island of Java, where he came to the bedside of the injured and inspected the stadium, the scene of one of the worst dramas in history. soccer.

“We need improvements in all management, spectator management in the stadium, time, security.

This must be fully audited so that such a tragedy does not happen again,” he told reporters at Kanjuruhan Stadium which still bears the scars of the tragedy.

The audit will concern “all the stadiums used by the football league”.

This announcement comes the day after a meeting between the Indonesian leader and Gianni Infantini, the president of the International Football Federation (Fifa), on ways to improve the way of "managing football" in Indonesia.

The contested police

The visit of the Indonesian president to Java also comes in a context of growing anger against the police accused by supporters of having aggravated a crowd movement.

As a reminder, this abominable tragedy occurred when fans of the Arema FC club took to the field to challenge players and managers after their defeat against rival team Persebaya Surabaya.

Police called the incident a riot and said two officers were killed.

But survivors of the tragedy accused her of overreacting by throwing tear gas into the stands.



Police tried to forcibly control the crowd on the pitch with batons, according to witnesses and video footage, but this encouraged more supporters to come and lend a hand to those already on the pitch.

Before his on-site visit, Joko Widodo had already ordered the suspension of all matches, promised compensation for the victims and called for an investigation into the tragedy.

It could last two to three weeks.

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