Govt asked to act immediately on sports bill

Govt asked to act immediately on sports bill

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following Indonesia's debacle in the recent Asian Games, the
House of Representatives (DPR) asked the government on Thursday
to immediately assign a representative to conduct negotiations on
the sports bill.

"We submitted the sports draft law to the government
immediately after we held our plenary session in September. It's
been more than one month since then but there has been no
response yet from the government," Ferdiansyah, a legislator from
House Commission VI on human resources and religious affairs,
said after a hearing with officials from the Indonesian Sports
Council (KONI) and the Ministry of National Education here on
Thursday.

"We (the House) have done our duty ... now the ball is in the
government's court as to how it will respond to the bill. We
could have met and talked the matter over during the hearings in
October, but there was no word from them. We take this to mean
the government lacks interest in sport," he said.

Toho Cholik Mutohir, the sports director general at the
Ministry of National Education, confirmed that his office had not
been tasked by the government to get involved in the deliberation
of the bill.

"While waiting for a government directive, the sports
directorate general has been looking into the bill and we already
have something to offer as regards its improvement," he said.

Ferdiansyah said that Commission VI hoped that the bill would
be finalized during the next session of the House in April.

"After a certain period of socialization, the bill, hopefully,
can be enacted after the fourth session," he said. The fourth
session runs through May and June of next year.

The introduction of a sports law has become an imperative
given the fact that Indonesian sporting prowess has been
declining steadily over the past three years during which time
the national squad has appeared unable to withstand challenges at
the Asian and South East Asian level, let alone at world events
such as the Olympics.

During the last two SEA Games in 1999 and 2001, Indonesia not
only relinquished its domination to Thailand, but it also
finished unprecedentedly behind Malaysia, a relative minnow.

During the 2002 Asian Games, Indonesia returned home with only
four gold medals -- as well as seven silver and 12 bronze medals
-- one third less than its haul in Bangkok four years ago.

In each case, lack of funds has been blamed. As KONI chairman
Wismoyo Arismunandar explained, funding worries distracted the
athletes from their preparations.

"Every time we plan to participate in a multi-event
tournament, we are in for a difficult time raising money to fund
the preparations of the athletes," Wismoyo said, adding that the
failure of funds to become available on time also delayed the
start of preparations.

"We have come to the House many times (for a hearing) but we
have yet to be assured about its seriousness in meeting the
financial needs of our international commitments," he said.

Ferdiansyah said the enactment of the sports bill could be
expected to help alleviate the financial constraints given that
the bill contains a clause on state budget funding.