KONI to adopt Army chain of command

KONI to adopt Army chain of command

JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI)'s newly- elected chairman, Gen. Wismoyo Arismunandar, will restructure the sports body to conform with the Indonesian army.

The army is divided into ten regional military commands. KONI will also have ten regional offices which will be responsible to the respective chiefs of the ten military commands.

KONI's 27 provincial chapters will no longer report directly to KONI's headquarters.

Instead, they will responsible to the respective chiefs of their military commands, who, in turn, will be accountable to Wismoyo.

"I will not have to be directly involved in monitoring the development of sport in each province," Wismoyo said. He added that he hoped the new organizational pattern would improve sports in each province.

The 55-year-old general, who is scheduled to retire as the Army Chief of Staff on Friday, announced the plan after discussing it with sports reporters at a press conference held in his office in Cilangkap in East Jakarta on Saturday. Wismoyo sought suggestions about the right people to assist him in running the national sports body until the end of his term in 1999.

Wismoyo previously proposed that the provincial governors be entrusted to head the ten regional commands.

The reporters, however, disagreed. They argued that the governors were already too busy with their official activities, and would not be effective patrons for the development of sport.

The four-star general will also replace KONI's fund-raising section with a special staff directly responsible to him.

The special staff, according to Kompas daily, will consist of wealthy businessmen entrusted to chair various sports organizations under KONI. They will be held responsible for the performance of the athletes under their patronage. (arf)