KONI gets Bank Mandiri sponsorship
JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) signed a Rp 10 billion (US$900,000) sponsorship with state Bank Mandiri on Friday for the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games training program.
The bank -- the only sponsor for the Indonesian contingent -- is also providing a Rp 5 billion syndicated fund.
Bank Mandiri president E.C.W. Neloe said the sponsorship also served as a promotion for the bank, which had sponsored the national soccer league for two seasons.
"We expect 200 percent benefit from the sponsorship. We will field officials to see if Bank Mandiri is promoted during the SEA Games event," Neloe said after signing the deal with KONI chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar at Bank Mandiri's headquarters.
To avoid any breaching of the sponsorship agreement, Neloe said Bank Mandiri staff would observe the training program and follow the contingent.
"This is a promotional event. Bank Mandiri staff will check if KONI has our logo on the contingent's attire or had included our name in TV promotions."
He also said the fund would be audited before the end of the year.
"KONI has its own auditing program and external auditors. I will also observe the auditing and study the results," said Neloe, who is also KONI's vice treasurer.
"We don't expect much from the audit, but we will calculate the profits from this sponsorship by ourselves. But I'm sure KONI will be cooperative."
Wismoyo expressed hope that Bank Mandiri would also help finance the training program for the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea.
However, Neloe said the bank would study KONI's performance in this first agreement before making future decisions.
"We will see if the current deal is profitable before deciding whether to sponsor in future."
Wismoyo described the difficulties faced by the SEA Games training crew in seeking financial support when the country was hit by the financial crisis.
"I have been under pressure preparing for the SEA Games. But this is an opportunity to boost our self-esteem. Our problem is we have no money.
"We could have decided to prepare our athletes only in the last three months, but the results would be disappointing, like in the 1999 SEA Games.
Indonesia finished third in the 1999 Games in Brunei Darussalam after archrivals Thailand and Malaysia.
This year, KONI is aiming to improve its overall standing by taking home between 60 and 100 golds out of 391 gold medals at stake at the Sept. 8 through Sept. 17 Games. (ivy)