Minister pledges extra funds

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of National Education Yahya A. Muhaimin said on Tuesday that the ministry had requested the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) for extra funds to support the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games training program.

"The request had been forwarded to Bappenas ... so that it will not give such a small contribution," he said, as quoted by Antara, after installing new officials of the Directorate General of Sport at his ministry.

The National Sports Council (KONI) said earlier that the government would only disburse Rp 5.5 billion of the Rp 48.6 billion needed to finance the third phase of its centralized training program beginning in June.

Yahya said that the government's contribution was too small. "Maybe the government wants to be consistent in its effort to involve the public in sports development.

"But I believe that KONI has experience in dealing with financial shortages and some of the sports organizations, like the Badminton Association of Indonesia and the Soccer Association of Indonesia, have set up their own strategies," he said.

The SEA Games will be held in Kuala Lumpur in September. (ivy)