Keep political issues out of sports: Pelti chairman

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) Tanri Abeng played down calls for the convening of an extraordinary congress to pick his replacement, arguing that sports should not be dragged into political issues.

"Where did the idea of an extraordinary congress come from? On what grounds should they stage the congress and what is the purpose of all of it?" he said at the association's office on Monday.

"Please don't politicize Pelti because political issues regarding me are popular right now."

Tanri, a former state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises, was named a suspect in the Rp 540 billion (about US$72 million) Bank Bali scandal, along with Bank Indonesia executive Erman Munzir.

Tanri argued that the association's activities were not disrupted even though he was questioned at the Attorney General's Office.

"I came to the Attorney General's Office on two occasions. But the tournaments still went on and the development of tennis courts at Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, did not stop. For example, we could still send our Davis Cup players to some tournaments in India, we could fulfill the target in the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Some of them also improved their rankings," he said.

"If people ask for an extraordinary congress, what do they want to achieve? I'm not against the idea, but they have to see the problem objectively, and not mix the organizational affairs with individual affairs."

Earlier, Pelti spokesman Benny Mailili said that three provincial chapters -- Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java -- planned to request the congress.

According to Pelti's rules, two-thirds of the association's 26 chapters must request an extraordinary congress for it to be fulfilled. As of Monday, Pelti's office at Gelora Senayan sport complex had not received written requests for the congress from any of its chapters.

Tanri said the association did not depend solely on its chairman to supervise its daily affairs.

"If the chairman is absent, the secretary-general can take over the executive functions. He or she will lead the officials to carry on the daily affairs. There was no principal decision taken by the secretary-general when I was out."

He also said that conflicts between his officials were common.

"There's always a conflict in any organization, because everybody has different aspirations. The most important thing is that we can reach the best decision for our organization, not for Tanri Abeng, not for Soegeng Sarjadi (Pelti's secretary-general). So all of us must be open to each other."

He said he planned to stage international tournaments outside Jakarta when conditions were conducive.

"But many provinces do not have international-standard courts. And because there is not easy access to some of them, the participants would have to pay more."

He said tennis courts in Denpasar, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surakarta met the association's standards to stage international tournaments.

He also said the association would hold a US$50,000 challenger tournament in October. "We will proceed with the tournaments even if we had to stage an extraordinary congress," he said.(ivy)