Indonesia's sporting world at a crossroad

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.