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.