KONI hails Mahadi's fund-raising idea

KONI hails Mahadi's fund-raising idea

JAKARTA (JP): National Sports Council (KONI) deputy chairman
Indra Djati Sidi welcomed State Minister of Youth Affairs and
Sports Mahadi Sinambela's idea to raise funds for sports
development through an excise tax on cigarettes.

Indra was commenting on Mahadi's remark on Thursday that
President Abdurrahman Wahid had approved his fund-raising idea.
He said the council would wait for further arrangements from
Mahadi's office before taking any action.

"I'm very happy that the idea has received the approval of the
President. This is a positive step, that the government has the
political will to develop sports," he said.

Mahadi said Abdurrahman had asked him to discuss the idea with
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik
Kian Gie and Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo.

He said he had submitted a proposal on the fund-raising
program to his colleagues. In the proposal, Mahadi asked for a
portion of the excise tax on cigarettes, between Rp 5 and Rp 10
per cigarette, to go toward sport development and youth
activities.

Mahadi, who said earlier he had quit smoking, stated that the
idea was not his own, but he was only carrying forward with a
proposal that had been conceived by his predecessor Agung
Laksono.

The idea to raise funds from cigarette taxes also was raised
by Agung's predecessor Hayono Isman, but the proposal was
discarded at the time for fear that it would affect the state
budget.

Indra, however, said the ministers should consider banning
smoking, even if sports officials were benefiting from the sale
of cigarettes.

"The government should compromise with the cigarette
manufacturers. Selling cigarettes is OK, but the manufacturers
have to include a warning on the cigarette packs saying smoking
is hazardous to the health. The government should also ban
smoking in public areas. After that, I'm sure that the number of
smokers would fall," he said.

"But these ideas may not work. I think that our people are
basically heavy smokers," said Indra, who is also the director
general of elementary and secondary education at the Ministry of
National Education.

He also highlighted the importance of a sustained training
program for athletes, saying that training often had to be halted
due to a lack of funds.

Meanwhile, Mahadi's assistant, Amrum Bustamam, said on Friday
his office would also consider a project whereby sports
development funds would be raised through a fee on vehicle
ownership documents.

He said Mahadi had yet to discuss this idea with the National
Police, which is in charge of issuing the ownership documents,
the House of Representatives, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the
Indonesian Ulemas Council and the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation.

"We will set up a joint team to study the possibility before
implementing the program, because the collection of fees would
require a government regulation," he said. (ivy)