Pleasing the President<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's recent venting of the shame
\nshe felt on seeing the Indonesia national sports team beaten at
\nthe 22nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam last month has
\nprovoked diverse reactions.<\/p>\n
Quite a number of Indonesians agreed with the President,
\nsaying that it was shameful for a country that used to dominate
\nsporting events in the region to see such a mediocre performance
\nfrom its national athletes, who managed to bring home only 55
\ngold medals.<\/p>\n
Others, however, disagreed, saying that it was the
\ngovernment's lack of commitment to sports development in this
\ncountry that was to be blamed for the Vietnam debacle.<\/p>\n
Head of the Indonesian contingent to the games, Djoko Pramono,
\nfor example, argued that 70 percent of the squad's members were
\nyoung athletes who hold good prospects for the future. He
\ndefended the athletes by saying that they had worked hard for the
\nevent and should not be faulted.<\/p>\n
Signs of Indonesia's declining standing in regional sports had
\nin fact already begun to show at the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei
\nDarussalam, and at the 2001 Games in Kuala Lumpur, where
\nIndonesia finished third for the first time in the event's
\nhistory. Questions naturally arise, as to who must be held
\nresponsible for the results, and how the country's performance
\ncan be improved.<\/p>\n
Since the Office of the State Minister of Youth Affairs and
\nSports was dismissed by then-president Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\"
\nWahid during his tenure, sports development has been put in the
\nhands of the Ministry of National Education's Directorate General
\nof Sports, which ranks lower in the bureaucratic hierarchy.<\/p>\n
Conditions are worsened by the fact that the draft law on
\nsports management and development, which was submitted to the
\nState Secretariat in 1997, has yet to be endorsed by the House of
\nRepresentatives. This shows how ignorant our legislators in fact
\nare when it comes to sports.<\/p>\n
Apart from weaknesses in the bureaucracy, sports facilities
\nacross the country remain very limited. The main target of sports
\ndevelopment should have been students, and school teachers must
\nbe encouraged to teach them the three basic branches of sports:
\ntrack-and-field, swimming and gymnastics. It is worth noting that
\neach of these three basic branches offers more than 30 gold
\nmedals in multi-sports events, whether at the National Sports
\nWeek (PON) or the Olympics Games. The success story of big
\nsporting countries such as the United States, Russia, China,
\nSouth Korea and Japan, is also based on their high achievements
\nin track-and-field, swimming and gymnastics.<\/p>\n
The lack of local competitions in these areas also contributes
\nto the difficulty of netting new talent. Fewer and fewer students
\nare willing to engage in track-and-field, swimming or gymnastics
\nactivities in our schools. And national championships in these
\ncategories only draw few spectators.<\/p>\n
To expect the public to be fully in charge of developing
\nsports is pointless. Sport is regarded as being a healthy
\npastime, but not a serious component of a person's way of life.
\nTherefore, many parents object to their children's ambition to
\nbecome athletes, as there has been no real and tangible
\nappreciation from the government, even when Indonesian athletes
\nscore international achievements.<\/p>\n
At best, government officials will only say \"thank you,\" and
\nthen slap taxes on the athletes' cash bonuses. No life insurance,
\nno employment, no free housing or other facilities are made
\navailable to the athletes.<\/p>\n
For Indonesia, a good lesson may be learned from 22nd SEA
\nGames host Vietnam, which emerged as the overall champion. From
\nbeing the winner of only 33 golds in 2001, Vietnam became the
\ndominant partaker of the 2003 Games, with 158 golds -- a 480
\npercent increase. Vietnam had prepared its athletes well, over a
\n10-year training program.<\/p>\n
If Indonesia had wanted to score a similar achievement, the
\nNational Sports Council (KONI) should have worked all out to make
\nup for lost time. KONI had actually laid out an eight-year
\nprogram, called Garuda Emas (Golden Garuda) with an eye on
\nfinishing fifth at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Unfortunately,
\nthe program had to be halted due to the economic crisis that hit
\nthe country in mid-1997.<\/p>\n
KONI has now revised the program and called it Indonesia
\nRises, so the country will be able to offer a strong challenge in
\nselected sports at the 2006 Games. Based on the new program, KONI
\nwill groom 100 of the best athletes from various sports, with the
\ntarget of earning 11 golds at the quadrennial event. However,
\nsports officials in KONI and other sports organizations -- who
\nare mostly state officials, military or businessmen -- must fully
\ncommit themselves to the development of sport.<\/p>\n
Also, if President Megawati does not want to be embarrassed
\nonce again by the national squad's mediocre performance, she must
\nfirst commit herself to the development of sport, and not focus
\nall her energy on how to win next year's general and presidential
\nelections only.<\/p>\n
Being the incumbent president, she could have obliged all the
\nprovincial administrations in the country to provide
\ninternational-standard sports facilities. She could also urge
\ncompanies to sponsor more sports competitions in order to enable
\ntalent scouting for the national squad.<\/p>\n
And lastly, Megawati could provide welfare guarantees for
\nnational athletes based on their international achievements. Such
\nrecognition would certainly make athletes work harder and as a
\nconsequence achieve even higher standards at world-class events.
\nIf and when that happens, Megawati will no longer need to feel
\nashamed of her athletes' performances, either at home or abroad.<\/p>",
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