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)