Athletes, officials in allowance row
JAKARTA (JP): Bowlers and horse riders joining the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games training program questioned the National Sports Council (KONI) legal commission about the whereabouts of their monthly allowances on Friday.
Senior women's bowler Sri Mulyani Ruzgar met commission member Cahyo Adi to lodge a complaint concerning her monthly allowances. Allowances from KONI are distributed through the Indonesian Bowling Association (PBI).
"KONI has transferred some Rp 146 million (US$14,600), including athletes' allowances, to PBI since February. But I only received mine for June and July. Where is the rest of my money?" Yani, Sri Mulyani's nickname, queried.
KONI transferred Rp 10.2 million each month from February through May and Rp 12.825 million from June to July to PBI's account for the Games athletes and coaches.
Bowling manager David Sitorus signed the receipt on behalf of PBI.
David appeared uneasy when asked by journalists about the complaint. He acknowledged he had received the money but had not informed PBI chairman Subagiyo about the distribution or use of the money for bowlers and coaches.
"Most of the bowlers have received their money. But I won't disclose their names. I would rather wait for the result of PBI's meeting on the weekend," he said, adding that Subagiyo had asked him to prepare a financial report.
David blamed certain senior bowlers who failed to get on the Games squad of trying to intimidate juniors bowlers.
"There's tight competition between seniors and juniors. I don't want the seniors to terrorize the younger bowlers."
Cahyo said he also received a complaint from an unidentified equestrian club, saying that their riders had yet to receive allowances, which had been transferred last October.
The Indonesian Equestrian and Horse Racing Association (Pordasi) head of the equestrian committee, Johan Pitoy, later refuted the charge.
"It's true that KONI transferred some Rp 193 million in October to my account because Pordasi has no bank account. But I did not use it for my personal interests. Some of the money was distributed to the athletes.
"There's some part which is untrue. We groomed 22 riders. We dropped a few riders as demanded by horse owners and the clubs, but the riders were still on our list. When the training program entered the second phase in February, there were additional riders but we told them that the eliminated riders would not receive allowances, and we returned the money to KONI."
Johan said the matter had been settled on Tuesday. He also accused an Pordasi official of trying to tarnish his name by claiming that fraud had occurred.
"We picked 15 riders as our core team, but five of them withdrew because they felt intimidated by the official," he said, declining to mention a name.
SEA Games project manager Putra Astaman said that he had asked Pordasi chairman Roesmanhadi and Subagiyo to solve the problem. He also said that KONI was monitoring distribution of the money. (ivy)