Indonesia must learn from China, Soeharto says
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is asking the national sports circle to learn from China on how the country of 1.2 billion people cultivates its talents to reach world sports supremacy.
Soeharto said upon receiving Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman at the State Palace yesterday that China is such an outstanding example of a successful sporting country that Indonesia can adopt its training techniques.
China stretched its reign over the Asian Games recently with a haul of 137 gold medals, 92 silvers and 60 bronzes, leaving the rest of Asia in the dust. Indonesia's 139-strong team slipped to 11th place with a paltry collection of three golds, 12 silvers and 11 bronzes, the worst outcome since 1962.
"Anyway, the national squad did not fail. Their performances were simply not what we had expected," Soeharto said.
Hayono will lead a delegation which includes top officials of the national sports governing body (KONI) and several sports organizations to China for a five-day visit starting Nov. 1.
Apart from several trips to China's centers for sports research and development, Hayono will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with his counterpart for cooperation in sports development between the two countries.
"We especially want to learn how Chinese wonder potions are made to enhance the performances of their sportsmen and women," said Hayono.
Hayono quoted Soeharto as saying that in the near future national sports prime movers should think about giving special treatment to sports which have realistic prospects on the international level, such as badminton and archery.
Soeharto also reminded that such measures are urgent as the 14th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are coming soon. "Don't be careless about host Thailand's preparations for the Games. We don't want to be number two," Soeharto implored.
Thailand will play host to the regional sports event in Chiang Mai next December in preparation for the 13th Asiad in 1998. The national squad finished second overall for the first time ever in the 1985 SEA Games in Bangkok behind the host team.
KOI
Hayono also reiterated yesterday the necessity of establishing the Indonesian Olympics Committee (KOI) as a separate body from KONI because the principal sports body has too many sports under its auspices.
KONI presently handles not only official Olympic sports such as track and field, swimming and tennis but also recreational sports such as mountaineering, scuba diving, jogging, fun bikes and even marching band.
KONI's chairman Surono, in response to Hayono's remarks, told reporters on Monday that the establishment of KOI was not necessary and that, while the government reserved the right to step in KONI's affairs, it was not supposed to intervene in the establishment of KOI.
Hayono said yesterday that Surono was right but underlined that KOI's function should, at any rate, be revived.
KOI is inherent in KONI since the latter's establishment in 1966, Hayono said, "but I think its existence should be made more clearly felt by placing it beneath KONI structurally. As a consequence, there should, of course, be someone to chair KOI."
"KOI will also provide exact, correct information on sports associations which it governs and thus, help improve its clogged communications with those associations," Hayono added.
The lack of communication between KONI and the sports bodies it governs earlier came under strong criticism by Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, KONI's former secretary general.
Siregar said KONI's high ranking officials very often did not know what happened in the sports bodies and tended to believe everything the associations reported to them without checking it first themselves. (arf/amd)