No more fundraising for PON

JAKARTA (JP): Many people are complaining about continued fund-raising for the 14th National Games (PON), which officially ended on Sept. 20.

Moviegoers and people entering bus terminals are still being charged extra fees for PON fund-raising, despite an announcement by the Games Organizing Committee that PON fund-raising ended the day the Games were officially closed.

When buying movie tickets, people are still being charged an extra Rp 100 for PON, while at the Pulogadung bus terminal last Saturday people were still being charged an extra Rp 100 for PON receipts when entering the terminal.

"I'm just doing my job and my boss told me to keep selling the receipts," a ticket seller at the Plaza Senayan theater complex told a customer who was refusing to pay for a PON receipt eight days after the Games had closed.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, the chairman of the Games Organizing Committee, said yesterday that the committee was no longer collecting funds from the public. "The collection has stopped. Don't pay it," he said.

"The sale of PON receipts after Sept. 20 is illegal, just don't pay, and if they force you to do so just report it to the committee. I will take firm action against them," R.S. Museno, the committee's executive director, said.

But he did not say how offenders would be punished.

The committee began raising funds from the public last year to finance the Games. The funds were collected in cooperation with state and private agencies such as the state-owned electricity company PLN, state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom and several movie theaters.

Fund-raising was considered necessary because the city had only budgeted Rp 11 billion for the Games, while they cost Rp 28.5 billion to run.

Museno said the committee collected Rp 4.5 billion (US$1.95 million) from the public by selling the receipts.

But Museno said that fund-raising through receipts was ineffective and that the committee was considering not using this method for the next Games.

"We may not use this system to finance the next Games. We can ask the city council to provide more funds from its budget," he said.

Museno said the committee would ask PT Citra Hasta Promotama, a private company appointed as the Games' promoter, to fulfill its obligation by paying the Rp 2.6 billion that it owed for selling the Games' sponsorship rights.

"We will ask them to pay because it has only paid Rp 4.4 billion so far, while the deal says it should pay Rp 7 billion," he said. (yns)