KONI looks ahead to Southeast Asian Games

KONI looks ahead to Southeast Asian Games

JAKARTA (JP): Discussion of preparations for the 18th
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games were the highlight of the first
plenary meeting held by the new board members of the National
Sports Council (KONI) yesterday.

"We have not yet decided when we will start the centralized
training program for the SEA Games athletes, but we hope that it
will commence as soon as possible," KONI secretary-general Rudolf
Warouw told reporters yesterday.

But, he added, some sports organizations were already grooming
their athletes in their own camps.

The council's training development department has suggested
that KONI start the training sessions early in April, Warouw
said.

The forthcoming SEA Games will be held in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, between Dec. 9 and Dec. 17. Twenty-eight events will be
contested at the Games. This is the first time the games have
been held in other than a capital city.

Warouw said KONI plans to meet with all sports organizations
under its supervision on March 11. The meeting will evaluate the
strengths and weaknesses of Indonesian sports and discuss a
strategy for defending the overall championship title which the
country won in 1993 at the last SEA Games in Singapore.

To secure the estimated Rp 15 billion (US$6.7 million) in
funds needed for the games, another meeting with members of
KONI's so-called 'special staff' will be held on March 16. The
'special staff' is comprised of 75 Indonesian business tycoons.

President Soeharto is scheduled to swear in KONI's new
leadership board on March 16.

The March 11 meeting will determine which events Indonesia
will participate in at the Games, said Rio Tambunan, a KONI
official.

Anger

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) has been angered by
"Thailand's unilateral, illegitimate inclusion, deletion and
replacement of certain sports events," Tambunan said. He said
Indonesia had not yet done enough by way of lobbying the host
country to remedy this situation.

"KONI Chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar has instructed me to press
Thailand continuously (regarding the events to be held),"
Tambunan said.

Indonesia's had won four straight victories since 1977, before
Thailand ended its reign at the 1985 games held in Bangkok.
Indonesia, however, regained its supremacy in the next four
games.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has, so far, sent two
"polite" protest letters to Thailand, Tambunan said.

The first one, urging Thailand to include karate, wushu and
wrestling in the games, came too late because Thailand formally
excluded the three sports on the day on which the letter was
sent, Tambunan said.

The second letter was sent to six Southeast Asian sports
ministers in an bid to foster solidarity among them. It urged
them to lodge a formal objection to Thailand's antics, Tambunan
said.

KONI's new top officials gathered in the evening for a
farewell party with their predecessors. Minister of Social
Services Endang Kusuma Inten Soeweno and former Minister of Home
Affairs Rudini were among the guests. Top Indonesian athletes
were also present at the gathering. (arf)