Martina in running for Pelti's top job
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Martina Wijaya, the former project officer of the Indonesian tennis team for the 2002 Asian Games, announced on Thursday her intention to run for the chairmanship of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti).
"If the tennis community trusts me for the next term of the Pelti leadership, I'm ready to take up the challenge. I guess I'm well prepared for the task," Martina said.
Martina will be pitted against Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and Permana Agung, the former director-general of Customs and Excise, who had both announced their bids for the chairmanship before Martina.
Pelti is currently chaired by Tanri Abeng, the former state minister for state enterprises. The next chairmanship will be decided at the organization's national meeting scheduled in Makassar, South Sulawesi, from Dec. 15 through Dec. 17.
Sutiyoso, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi), revealed his interest to run for the Pelti chairmanship last week.
Permana, who is now a member of the expert staff at the Ministry of Finance, boasted of garnering support from 16 provincial chapters when he made public his intention to run for the chairmanship last August.
"I do have support from chapters," Martina said when asked if she had gained any backing, but she refrained from revealing the exact number of her supporters.
Like the other two candidates, Martina, whose current post in Pelti is as the director of development, fell short of stating what steps she would take if she was elected chairwoman, but instead highlighted her lengthy service with Pelti.
"I have been with Pelti for sixteen years now. I know what Pelti's problems are and I can do something to make them better.
"About my program? Hang on, I'd need five hours to explain it," she said.
Before her current role, Martina, who said she had harbored a childhood desire to become a tennis champion, took up duties as the head of the tournament commission, the research and development department and foreign affairs.
While under her guidance, the national tennis team brought home three medals -- a gold, silver and bronze -- from the recent Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, last October.
The gold and silver came from the women's division in which the team was spearheaded by national rising star Angelique Widjaja, who last week won the Pattaya Open.
Securing a bronze, the men's team appeared to be struggling to match its regional competitors. The Busan performance signified its gloomy prospects at the moment, which Martina conceded when she said: "They are absolutely trailing. They need to lift up their performance standards. Let see what I can do to overhaul them."