Indonesia to start Asiad bidding drive in Brunei

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will begin its campaign to host the 2006 Asian Games in Brunei Darussalam next month during the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

National Sports Council (KONI) deputy of media and promotion Ahmed Solichin announced on Thursday that KONI would host a cocktail party on Aug. 6 in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei. The party is expected to be attended by the National Olympic Committee presidents from the 10 countries participating in the SEA Games, as well as officials from the countries' sports federations.

"We will also set up a counter which will hold all the information on Indonesia's bid for the Asiad. Two Miss Jakartas will serve as guides to give information to all the visitors to the counter," Ahmed said.

Indonesia aims to host the 2006 Asiad as part of its ambitious Golden Garuda megaproject, which has as its goals moving Indonesia into sixth position in the Asiad as well as hosting the event.

Last year, KONI learned from its participation in the 1998 Asiad in Bangkok, where the hosts finished in the sixth overall position while Indonesia was in 10th place.

President B.J. Habibie has thrown his weight behind efforts to land the Asiad and KONI has set up a team, chaired by Indra Kartasasmita, to lead the effort. The team consists of top KONI officials, sports organization officials, sports experts, top officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Jakarta City administration.

The House of Representatives Commission VII for education, culture, religion, youth affairs and sports has also supported the bid.

KONI chose the National Monument (Monas) and the orangutan as the symbols for its bid.

"We picked Monas because Jakarta is a candidate city for the Asiad. Monas will be surrounded by five circles of different colors symbolizing the five Olympic rings. We chose the orangutan as the mascot because it looks funny, friendly and marketable," he said.

Malaysia used the orangutan as its mascot during the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Ahmed said KONI would campaign at several different events as part of its efforts to land the 2006 Asiad.

First, it will campaign during the SEA Games. Then it will campaign at the Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA) meeting in Kuwait in November. Indonesia will also bid to host the OCA secretary- general meeting and council meeting in 2000 in Bali as part of its Asiad campaign.

OCA representatives will vote on who will host the 2006 Asiad during its 2000 council meeting.

Earlier, KONI secretary-general Rudolf S. Warouw said KONI had provided Rp 4 billion (US$597,000) to lobby members of the OCA.

For its campaign activities in Brunei, KONI spent about Rp 300 million.

So far, Qatar, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong have registered to bid for the Asiad. Only Malaysia and Hong Kong have begun to actively campaign. The United Arab Emirates withdrew from the bidding. (yan)