AAAA proceeds with Asian C'ships despite Hasan case

JAKARTA (JP): The Asian Amateur Athletics Association (AAAA) will proceed with its program to stage the Asian Athletics Championships and its congress here despite the detention of its president, Mohammad Bob Hasan, by the Indonesian government after he was named a suspect in a US$87 million corruption scandal.

AAAA secretary-general Maurice Nicholas told The Jakarta Post from Singapore that he had called the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association's (PASI) office on Wednesday and told them to continue with preparations.

"Nothing has changed regards the preparations, even with the scandal," he said. "It's too early to comment on the matter but he has not been charged yet."

Speaking about Hasan's candidacy for his third term as president of AAAA, Nicholas said that so far there was no other nominee to replace the timber tycoon, who is also former president Soeharto's golf buddy.

The deadline for presidential candidates is May 2. Hasan will end his second term in August.

AAAA had sent notification letters to its 43 member countries earlier this month asking them to submit a nomination three months prior to the AAAA congress, as one of the items on its agenda is to elect a new president at the Jakarta Convention Center on Aug. 2.

Should Hasan be reelected as chairman, he will equal the record of his predecessor, Seiko Yasuda of Japan, who also was the chairman for three consecutive terms.

President of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) Lamine Diack of Senegal is scheduled to attend the congress and also to witness the Asian Athletics Championships from Aug. 3 to Aug. 6 at Senayan Madya stadium.

Indonesia was the only country which bid to host the event. After the deadline two years ago, Sri Lanka and Malaysia offered to host the event.

Hasan, who once chaired the Indonesian Forest Concessionaires Association (APHI), was party to a contract with the then forestry ministry to perform aerial mapping and airborne radar imaging of the country's forestry resources in 1997.

The $87 million contract was carried out by PT Mapindo Parma and the money was paid out of the government's reforestation fund.

Hasan is also a member of the International Olympics Committee and vice president of the Olympics Committee of Asia.

Separately, PASI official in charge of foreign affairs Barmawi Chaidir shared the same idea.

"The show must go on. We will stage the championships here. PASI has secretary-general Tigor Tanjung and official in charge of organization and provincial chapters Kunarto to take care of the problem," he said.

Chaidir said PASI was still waiting for the reaction of other AAAA members to the news.

"It's been aired on CNN, BBC and others. Let's just wait and see what their reaction will be."

He also said that there had yet to be any meeting in the organization to discuss on the matter and to decide the caretaker.

"We still have no intention of having an internal meeting. Maybe it's necessary to have one but we still have no idea about what's going on."

The National Sports Council (KONI) secretary-general, Rudolf S Warouw, regretted the detention.

"I still haven't contacted PASI but I'm sure it has a special mechanism for such situations. We just hope everything goes well prior to the Asian Championships," he said. (yan)