Hayono urges equal bonus for athletes

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman has urged sports organizations to give bonuses to all Indonesian 19th SEA Games athletes, not just medalists.

"Giving bonuses to athletes is very generous. I personally suggest all athletes receive an equal amount of money," Hayono said Friday night after witnessing the Games opening ceremony rehearsal at the Senayan indoor tennis stadium.

"If some organizations, who have money, want to give more to the medalists, please don't expose the amount because it may be unfair to others who fail to win medals or whose organizations are not able to provide the money," he said.

Hayono was commenting on sports organizations which will provide bonuses to medalists of the biennial event.

Indonesian Judo Association chairman Hendroprijono said he would provide Rp 35 million (US$12,963) to each medalist, while the Indonesian Boxing Association will give Rp 25 million to each medalist.

"If we provide the same amount of bonus, I think organizations which can give a lot of money can subsidize others which are incapable of giving bonuses," Hayono said.

He said athletes must not be obsessed by the bonus or winning at the Games, which runs from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19.

Rehearsal

The opening ceremony rehearsal, called Gelar Nusantara, featured 400 students from 32 senior high schools in the city.

The actual ceremony will feature 5,000 students and will take place at the Senayan Main Stadium.

The rehearsal was witnessed by Hayono, National Sports Council chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar, former council chairman Maladi, the Games consortium's promotion and business deputy Enggartiasto Lukita, and State Minister of Administrative Reforms TB Silalahi, who is also the coordinator of the opening and closing ceremonies.

About 200 athletes also witnessed the rehearsal, which performed traditional dances from 11 provinces. They are East Java, Maluku, Bali, South Sulawesi, West Java, Central Kalimantan, Yogyakarta, East Nusa Tenggara, Irian Jaya, North Sulawesi and Aceh.

Each dance represented certain sports which was displayed on a big screen. For example, Aceh represented swimming, while Irian Jaya represented javelin throwing.

Silalahi said one of the biggest barriers was gathering students because teachers and principals thought the six-week practice would disturb students' study.

"But thank God, everything was alright and teachers and principals attended tonight," he said.

"The opening and closing ceremony symbolizes our strong culture," he added. "We don't take money from the council nor from athletes' allowance."

The 50-minute rehearsal aroused athletes' spirit and cured them of homesickness.

"I just hope they can perform better at the opening ceremony because we'll have more students in a very huge place," Silalahi said. (yan)