Minister pledges to push ahead with sports bill
Minister pledges to push ahead with sports bill
Eva C. Komandjaja and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After hanging in legislative limbo since 2002, the sports bill
looks set to be revived by new sports minister Adhyaksa Dault.
The bill, which was conceived in the early 1980s but was not
drafted until 20 years later, was largely ignored by President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who never signed a presidential
instruction reintroducing it for further deliberation in the
House of Representatives.
Adhyaksa said he planned to propose the bill for deliberation
within the first 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono's
Cabinet.
"I will bring up the issue in the next Cabinet meeting so that
the government is well aware of this long-overlooked sports bill.
A presidential instruction is needed for its follow-up," Adhyaksa
said.
The minister, a former leader of the country's youth sport
organization KNPI, made the comments after a meeting with Agum
Gumelar, the chairman of the National Sports Council (KONI), here
on Monday.
"The sports bill is very important as it redefines the basic
need for sports programs and development and seeks to ensure the
welfare of our athletes in the future," he said.
The previous lukewarm response to the sports bill has been
attributed to the lack of a Cabinet representative pushing for
the portfolio after the ministry of sport was disbanded in 2000.
The bill, with 13 chapters and 53 articles, examines issues of
life assurance for former athletes, the management of sports
development, commercialization and professionalism and rules on
doping.
Experts say the legislation would help recharge Indonesian
athletes, who have performed poorly in the recent Olympics, Asian
and Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Adhyaksa said the enactment of the bill would improve
conditions for athletes, spurring them on to greater achievements
in international competitions.
"We know our biggest problem has been funding and it is set
out in the sports bill how we can attract financial support to
fund our projects ... therefore, passing the sports bill is the
first and most basic step (to success)," he said.
He said the bill required the government to partially fund
sport through the national budget and set out criteria for sports
bodies to attract private sponsorship.
Ministry of National Education director general of sport Toho
Cholik Mutohir called on Susilo to issue the presidential
instruction on the bill in his first 100 days.
"(Susilo) has to show his commitment in developing the
country's sports," Toho said.
Toho's office has liaised with government ministers on sport
issues since the sports ministry was closed in 2000.
Adhyaksa also pledged his office would assist in the Indonesia
Awakens (IA) program for grooming future athletes in the 2006
Asian Games in Qatar.
"I will contact (IA program head) Djoko Pramono to discuss the
matter in one or two days' time," he said.