Government asked to act immediately on national sports bill

Government asked to act immediately on national sports bill

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is under criticism for its handling of the sports
bill, including its failure to immediately present it back to the
House of Representatives (DPR) for further deliberation.

"It's deplorable that the government has been slow in the
handling of the bill. It has been almost nine months since we
(DPR) submitted the bill to the government," Ferdiansyah, a
legislator of House Commission VI on education, culture and
sports affairs, told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.

"The DPR urges the government to immediately assign a team to
make possible revisions and hand back their version of the bill
to us," said Ferdiansyah of the Golkar faction.

Apart from the current development at the hands of the
government, the sports bill appears to have made little headway
since it was first initiated in 1997 by the National Sports
Council (KONI).

The bill contains 15 chapters and 36 articles.

Earlier in the day, KONI Chairman Agum Gumelar said that while
KONI was waiting for the government to assign a team to follow up
on the bill, KONI had spotted defects in a number of articles
that would need revision.

"In some parts, we just need some adjustments," Agum said
after leading a meeting of KONI staff.

He said that the team was expected to comprise representatives
from interrelated departments which include the justice ministry,
finance ministry, health ministry and national education
ministry.

Agum said he would keen to see the sports law enacted into law
in September at the latest, coinciding with the anniversary of
National Sports Day.

Ferdiansyah said the enactment of the sports law would depend
on how responsive the government was in setting up the team.

"The ball is in the government's court at the moment," he
said.

Ferdiansyah said that when the government-sponsored team had
been set up and the revised bill had been finalized DPR would
assign a working team to work with the government to talk further
about the bill before being forwarded to the DPR.

The enforcement of the sports law has been much awaited in the
expectation that it will provide a solution to financial
difficulties, which have been blamed for the current doldrums in
national sports development.