KONI needs times to formulate Tapornas
KONI needs times to formulate Tapornas
JAKARTA (JP): It would take at least two months for the Tapornas team to formulate a mechanism to put the savings scheme, to help finance sport activities, into effect, a National Sports Council (KONI) official said yesterday.
"The important point here is that President Soeharto has approved it as a movement to mobilize funds from the public," Setyo Novanto said. He added that a study on the Tapornas system has been carried out by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Tapornas is a 12-month savings scheme, which offers monthly prizes totaling Rp 1.5 billion. The first prize ranges from Rp 400 million to Rp 700 million per month. The lowest prize offered is Rp 100,000. However, the savings plan's interest rate, ranging from three to five percent per annum, is far lower than the medium market rate, which presently arrives at 12 percent.
Profits earned from the seven to nine percent difference will be used as sports funds for KONI, as well as for paying the prizes. Tapornas has been devised to serve as a substitute for the widely disliked state lottery SDSB, which was the major sources of funds for KONI.
Tapornas' feasibility is still in question as far as the public's response is concerned.
"We still have to accurately anticipate public response," Nantho Susanto, the team's secretary, said, "since the public is our main target group."
The other target groups are prominent businessmen, who are members of KONI's special staff, and the 200 biggest tax payers, from whom "a good response can already be expected," Nantho said optimistically.
"Some banks are already behind us," Nantho said. But he declined to reveal which ones. Natho reiterated what Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman had earlier said that Tapornas has opted for the state-owned Bank Republik Indonesia because it was the state bank with the widest banking network throughout Indonesia. "Far-reaching networks are important for reaching as many people as possible," he added. (arf)