Participants to urge Brunei to host Games

JAKARTA (JP): Participating countries at this year's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will urge Brunei Darussalam to host the 20th event in 1999, the National Sports Council's chairman, Wismoyo Arismunandar, said yesterday.

"If Brunei has problems staging the event, if the country cannot stage 34 sports, we can discuss the problems and find the solutions to keep the Games going," Wismoyo said.

At the last Executive Council Meeting of the SEA Games Federation last month, Brunei refused to stage the event, saying it was not ready.

Brunei should have hosted this year's Games, which will be in Jakarta from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19.

Cambodia should have taken Brunei's place but it also refused.

Indonesia agreed to host the Games despite budget restrictions.

Wismoyo, who is also the federation president, said Indonesia's International Olympic Committee representative, Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, and two members of the Malaysian Olympic Committee, would fly to Brunei this month to discuss the problem with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

"Staging the event needs good cooperation. The Games is the perfect event to keep our friendships," Wismoyo said.

The federation has suggested Brunei stage some of the 30 events in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

The Games started with 10 sports in 1959 in Bangkok under the name the Southeast Asia Peninsula Games. Thailand hosted 27 sports in 1995 and Indonesia will host 34 sports this year.

This year's games will feature nearly 5,000 athletes, the most ever.

Malaysia has said it does not want to host the Games if Brunei refuses to do so because it is hosting the Commonwealth Games next year. (yan)