New minister opposes sticker sales for sports

JAKARTA (JP): New State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung Laksono yesterday joined the chorus of criticism against the practice of selling stickers to raise funds for sports events.

"I oppose such fund raising programs because it places a further burden on people whose lives are already difficult," Agung said after a ceremony marking the official transfer of duties from his predecessor Hayono Isman.

Agung instead suggested that sporting event organizers seek sponsorships from the business community in mutually beneficial deals.

The new minister was commenting on alleged irregularities in the fund raising program for the 19th Southeast Asian Games, held in Jakarta last year.

A consortium of private firms which promoted the event recently announced a deficit of Rp 68 billion (US$6.8 million) and asked the government to extend the sales permit for stickers to compensate for the loss. The government refused.

The consortium, led by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, has come under the spotlight for failing to publish financial reports. It has agreed to present its audited reports to the public by the end of this month.

Agung said fund raising should be conducted transparently and with a degree of responsibility befitting the public duty that it is.

"People will be willing to donate as long as they are sure their money will be used to support sports development in the country," said Agung, who is also a businessman.

He called on the business community to maintain their commitment to developing national sports, particularly in the midst of the current economic turmoil.

Hayono shared Agung's view, saying that sticker sales should no longer be used to raise funds. He suggested that event organizers seek alternative ways to raise money.

"Many people are not willing to buy the stickers but they have to," he said, referring to complaints by consumers who said they had no choice but to buy the SEA Games stickers.

But Hayono opted to give the benefit of the doubt to SEA Games consortium.

"I believe the consortium has done no wrong. The problem is that it was not backed up by professional people. If mismanagement occurred, it must have been caused by field staff, not members of the consortium," he said.

He praised the consortium, saying that Indonesia could not have staged the biennial event without the consortium's help.

Separately, an East Java official, Suparjono, denied accusations that the province had refused to hand over funds raised from sticker sales to the consortium.

"We were not involved in the sticker sales at all. We won't submit the money because we didn't even sell the stickers," said Suparjono, an assistant to the provincial government secretary.

He said that the East Java administration had decided not to sell the SEA Games stickers because it did not want to further burden its tax payers. (emf/yan)