KONI quiets fears about Indonesian taking part in Olympics
JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) vice chairman, Harsuki, told reporters on Monday there was no need to be afraid of sending a contingent to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Harsuki, who, with KONI secretary-general Rudolf S Warouw had just returned from the chef de mission meeting in Sydney, was commenting on whether Indonesia should send a contingent to the Olympics, due to the situation in East Timor.
"Sport should not involve politics. It is stated in the Olympic charter that each country's National Olympic Committee (NOC) must cooperate with the host country and not allow racialism, politics and religious affairs in sports," he said.
"So far, during our stay in Sydney, we did not see any trouble which would affect the Indonesian contingent's security for next year's event. Despite the fact that some Australians have written harsh words about Indonesia, the Australian police officers are doing a good job in protecting our diplomats," he said.
Earlier, state minister of youth affairs and sports, Agung Laksono, said that Indonesia had three options regarding the Olympics. First, to ask for a security guarantee for the Indonesian contingent from the Sydney Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG). Second, to send only a small contingent and third to skip the Olympics altogether due to security problems.
Indonesia boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow due to lack of money for the participants.
"This time, if we boycott the Olympics it will not be for financial reasons. SOCOG will finance all the participants' transportation and accommodation fees," Harsuki said.
Harsuki said that he and Warouw would report the results of the meeting to KONI chairman, Wismoyo Arismunandar, before consulting Agung over the next step to take for the Olympics.
So far, only several athletes from tae kwon do, swimming, diving, track and field and badminton have qualified for the quadrennial event.
Harsuki estimates that, at the most, 50 athletes will compete in the Olympics from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1 next year.
Tennis
Separately, the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) deputy secretary-general, Benny Mailili, expressed disappointment at the result of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) administrator workshop in Singapore last week.
The workshop resolved that the Asian Championships in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, in November would no longer serve as the qualifying round for the Olympics.
"We don't have any chance in qualifying for the Olympics because the new rules say the Asian Championships will not serve as a qualifier. We can only wait for a wild card, which is not easy to get," he said.
In the 1996 Olympics, Indonesia was represented by Yayuk Basuki, who was ranked in the world top 30, and by Yayuk and Romana Tedjakusuma in the doubles. Romana and Yayuk qualified for the Olympics after winning the Asian Championships.
"The new system is unfair. But I hope our athletes can perform well in the championships. If any of them can win, who knows they may well receive a wild card," Benny said.
Benny named Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, South Korea and Thailand as the only Asian countries whose players would be able to qualify for the Olympics. (yan)