MMI to allocate 5% of revenue for sports

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Metropolitan Magnum Indonesia (MMI), which is KONI's partner in a planned sports fund-raising program, will earmark 5 percent of its revenue for sports development, an official said.

While he was insistent that it would be purely door prizes instead of gambling, Andi Baso, MMI's vice-chairman, said that the program would begin in the second week of March and would be expected to garner a rough projection of Rp 5 billion per week.

"We expect Rp 3 billion come from ticket sales and the rest from sponsorships," Andi said during a press conference here on Tuesday.

Speaking further about the details of the allocation of the funds, Andi said that 40 percent of the revenue would be spent on prizes and 36 percent for the operational costs.

The Ministry of Social Affairs will be entitled to 10 percent in the form of tax deductions from the prizes.

The fund-raising campaign, which comes at time when the National Sports Council (KONI) is in need of funds to run the sports program, has drawn suspicion that it might be a form of gambling which is prohibited in predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

Following KONI Chairman Agum Gumelar's defense of the program, MMI also concurred, with Andi trying to convince people that it would be purely door prizes.

"The prizes are not big. However, they aim to encourage people to come to sports events, where they can expect some prizes," Andi said.

With at least a draw a week, MMI, which Andi said is a franchise -- instead of the subsidiary of the Kuala Lumpur-based Magnum Corporation Berhad -- will be looking to draw 52 times throughout the year.

Andi said that the expected Rp 3 million from ticket sales would be met with the prediction that about 150,000 people would come to various sports events while the tickets are tagged at Rp 20,000 each on average.

Data of the tickets will be processed online in Jakarta with the results all accessible to the public.

There will be 1,200 lucky winners with the prizes to be given in the form TV sets, DVDs, refrigerators, as well as cash.

However, MMI appears desperate to convince people that the program will run as smooth as expected given their lack of coordination with the KONI-affiliated sports organizations.

While they are expecting to start in March, on Tuesday they could not provide the details about what sports or what places would be their first tournaments.

Meanwhile, KONI's secretary-general said that it was not compulsory for the sports organizations to team up with MMI.