Bank savings to fund sportd activities in 1995
JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to provide funds for various sports activities from bank saving facilities in place of the defunct national lottery SDSB, starting from next year.
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman told reporters here yesterday that the ministry is working with the Association of Private Domestic Banks (Perbanas) and the Ministry of Social Services to formulate the idea.
"So far operating bank saving account is the most feasible way out for the financial shortcomings suffered by national sport organizations," Hayono said, adding that a replacement for SDSB is urgently needed due to growing sport activities.
"Without funds, it is impossible to improve our athletes' talents," he said.
The bank savings, called Tapornas (Tabungan Prestasi Olah Raga Nasional/National Sport Achievement Bank), is precisely like other bank facilities, with savers being free to withdraw their money anytime, Hayono said.
Tapornas is expected to collect Rp 50 billion (US$23 million) annually. It will also offer top prize money worth Rp 150 million ($69,220) through a lottery system.
"People are free to invest their money in the bank and the purse may be made higher in an attempt to attract as many bank savers as possible," Hayono said.
The new bank fund will be passed through a joint agreement involving Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Minister of Social Services and Minister of Finance.
Hayono, however, failed to go into detail about how the savings work, saying that the idea was still a new one. He also admitted that he had yet to consult the Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad.
Protests
National sports bodies lost their prime donor, SDSB, last October, following a series of staunch protests from the public over the controversial lottery which led the government to ban it permanently.
The lottery, named Porkas when it was introduced in 1985, had earmarked around Rp 30 billion (US$13.8 million) for numerous sport activities annually. It also helped the national sports governing body (KONI) run its activities.
Hayono said several proposals, including collecting funds from insurance premiums, has been rejected owing to the uncertain prospects.
Minister of Social Services Endang Kusuma Inten Soeweno told a hearing with the House of Representatives last February that her office had sifted three methods out of hundreds of alternatives of fund raising ways proposed by the public.
The selected proposals are imposing obligatory donations on car owners each time they pay their annual vehicle taxes, reviving the simple draw and collecting funds through sales promotion draw.
The lack of money has also forced KONI to tighten the qualifications for national sport bodies which bid to send their athletes to the upcoming Asian Games in Hiroshima. KONI will let only sportsmen and women with great chances of winning medals to lineup for the national squad in the continent's sporting extravaganza.
KONI hopes to obtain Rp 3 billion ($1.3 million) more from businessmen to fund the national team's preparations for the Oct. 2-16 Games. (amd)