New minister opposes sticker sales for sports
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)