Games press center not yet ready

JAKARTA (JP): With five days to go to the opening of the 19th SEA Games, the main press center in the Kenanga rooms of the Senayan Indoor stadium hall is not yet ready.

The center, which is expected to accommodate 2,733 local and foreign journalists, will have 86 personal computers and 10 terminals connected to the Internet.

Organizers will also provide 75 electronic and manual typewriters, a conference room and a smaller working room.

There were only 115 working tables in the center yesterday. The organizers are expected to install about 50 computers yesterday.

The organizers' main press center deputy, Rudy Novrianto, said the center should be ready this afternoon and be officially opened on Oct. 9.

The 2,733 journalists are 852 Indonesian printed media journalists, 867 Indonesian electronic media journalists, 852 foreign journalists and 71 government documentation journalists.

State-owned PT Telkom has provided a telecommunications center next to the center. This includes eight telephone booths, eight lines for modems and other lines for Internet access.

Some foreign journalists have already had trouble finding information about the Games. Ko Yee Sing from Singapore-based Shin Min daily had to ask local journalists to find information and then he had to go back to the National Sports Council to confirm it. (yan)