Government's commitment to sports development questioned

Government's commitment to sports development questioned

As it is home to 220 million people, Indonesia is in an ideal
position to become a force to be reckoned with in the sporting
world. But poor management in the development program has
resulted in some mediocre Indonesian results in regional and
international competitions. The Jakarta Post's Zakki P. Hakim
discusses several facets of the issue in this special report
based on interviews with athletic officials, including sports
development consultant Hans Peter Thumm.

The National Sports Council (KONI) launched this year a three-
year sports campaign called Indonesia Awakens, with the aim of
improving Indonesia's performance at international athletics
tournaments.

KONI says it will be looking to win 10 gold medals at the 2006
Asian Games in Doha.

The unveiling of the program came in the wake of another
disappointing performance at the Vietnam SEA Games in December,
where Indonesia, which used to be the dominant sporting force in
the region, finished third in the medal tally for the third
consecutive time since 1999.

Although this result had been predicted by observers, the
Vietnamese outing prompted criticism from President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, who said she felt embarrassed by the meager
collection of medals.

She said it was unbelievable that Indonesia, with a huge
population of 220 million people, had finished behind Vietnam and
Thailand.

In 1999 and 2001, Thailand and Malaysia swapped the top two
places in the SEA Games medal tally, leaving Indonesia in third
on both occasions.

At the more prestigious Asian Games, Indonesia has seen a
steady drop in its medal tallies.

Indonesia's discouraging performance both in regional and
international competitions has been put down to a lack of
commitment on the part of the government in sports development,
which has resulted in the failure to develop young athletes.

SEA Games and national record holder in the pole vault, Ni
Putu Desi Margawaty, said she was astonished that there was so
much talent across the country that went unnoticed.

"The government should encourage the identification and
development of more young athletes as early as 14 years of age,"
the 23-year-old said.

Desi is an alumni of an Education and Training Center for
Students (PPLP), which fall under the supervision of the
Directorate General for Sports Affairs in the national education
ministry. There are 93 PPLPs across the country.

She was recruited to the training center when she was 14 and
less than three years later she joined the national athletic
training camp in Jakarta.

Desi said the government ignored the issue, neglecting basic
physical education and sports development.

"The government has no concern about sports at all. They
expect us to perform well, but at the same time they neglect
basic physical education and sports development," she said.

The government's lack of support for sports has also been
shown in its indifference to using its power to pass into law a
draft sports bill. Its passage into law is expected to improve
sports development.

With its huge population, Indonesia should have the potential
to become a sporting force not only regionally, as it was in the
past, but also internationally.

According to official statistics from 2002, there are 25.85
million primary and 12.52 million secondary school students in
148,516 primary and 33,149 secondary schools across the country.

Those figure can only be matched by combining the other nine
countries in the Southeast Asian region.

Hans Peter Thumm, an athletics expert from Germany, said that
to develop one athlete to become a strong contender for an
Olympic medal requires recruiting 700 young athletes in each
particular sporting discipline.

To develop 100 Olympic contenders would require 70,000 young
athletes. For Indonesia, that figure constitutes only 0.18
percent of the overall number of students in schools today.

Toho Cholik Mutohir, the director-general for sports affairs
at the Ministry of National Education, has blamed the lack of
sports development on the government's reluctance to pour money
into the campaign.

Since the Office of the State Minister for Youth Affairs and
Sports was disbanded by president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in
1999, the responsibility for sports development has been
transferred to the Ministry of National Education's Directorate
General for Sports Affairs, which ranks lower than a ministry in
the bureaucratic hierarchy.

According to Toho, his office only received Rp 125 billion
(US$14.71 million) in 2003 and 2004. That amount, he said, was
far from adequate to do all the work that was necessary.

Financial shortfalls have made it difficult to provide schools
with sports facilities and trained sports teachers.

"With this situation it is difficult to identify young talents
because the condition of sports facilities in schools is
worrying.

"A lack of sports fields, equipment and good sports teachers
contributes to the difficulties," he said.

Toho said he hoped his office would receive at least Rp 150
billion from the government for the upcoming budget period.

"Still, it is not enough to develop sports in the country. Ten
times that amount would be adequate," he said.

In comparison, the Vietnamese government spent some US$32.03
million from its state budget just for preparations for the 2003
SEA Games.

Indonesia's 2004 state budget is Rp 374.35 trillion, 4.1
percent of which, or Rp 15.34 trillion, is allocated for
education. And according to a 2004 state budget report published
by the Ministry of Finance, of this Rp 15.34 trillion allocated
for education, Rp 206 billion, or 1.34 percent, will cover youth
and sports issues.

To overcome its funding difficulties, the sports office is
approaching provincial administrations seeking greater commitment
to developing young local athletes.

The sports office has also turned to a government-to-
government cooperation, as in the case with its partnership with
Germany.

The German partnership, which was sealed in 2003, is meant to
help Indonesia build a systematic talent scouting program, with
Papua province the pilot project.

KONI may be working hard to prepare a contingent for the 2006
Asian Games, but more work is needed to prepare an established
and systematic system that will produce athletes for future
events.

The government's commitment in this pursuit is indispensable.
Otherwise, Indonesia is in for further sports embarrassments.