Fund woes won't stop events<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
\nMahadi Sinambela said on Monday that financial shortages would
\nnot prevent Indonesia from participating in regional and
\ninternational events.<\/p>\n
He said that Indonesia would compete in the 2001 Southeast
\nAsian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur although the National Sports
\nCouncil (KONI) currently had no money in its pocket to fund the
\ntraining.<\/p>\n
\"We have to participate in the SEA Games because we want to
\nmaintain friendship with other countries. If we don't have money
\nto buy airplane tickets, we can travel by sea,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that his office was still considering ways to raise
\nfunds for sports training.<\/p>\n
\"The main thing is that the money will come from the people,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
He also said that he had sent a proposal on raising funds from
\ncigarette taxes to the Finance Ministry. He said that the
\nministry had yet to give its response.<\/p>\n
\"The basic idea of raising funds from cigarette taxes is
\ncollecting money from smokers to finance the non-smokers'
\nactivities. We want to popularize this, but we are waiting for
\nthe response from the finance ministry,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He remained cool towards objection from cigarette companies
\nover his idea.<\/p>\n
\"We collect money from consumers, not the manufacturers. I
\ntold you that we want to collect the people's money,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He also said that he had not suggested to President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid to enact the tax reduction policy, in which
\ncompanies that finance sports would receive tax reductions.<\/p>\n
\"Currently, some companies have allocated some money from
\ntheir business promotion budgets to finance sports. I don't think
\nwe should reduce their taxes as a result of contributing to
\nsports,\" he said.(ivy)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fund-woes-wont-stop-events-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}