Promoting sports

Today, as the 14th National Games (PON) open with the usual pomp at Jakarta's Senayan main stadium, Indonesians should be happy to know that the country's biggest sports festival is expected to be a success financially if all the funds expected are collected.

According to Eddy Widodo, secretary-general of the Games' organizing committee, a profit of almost Rp 1.2 billion -- or approximately US$500,000 -- is possible from the Games if revenues reach the expected Rp 29.7 billion (about $13.3 million).

Although not as upbeat about the financial outcome of the games, with Rp 8 billion yet to come in last week, organizing committee chairman, R.S. Museno, was confident the committee would have at least the Rp 28.5 billion needed to put on the event. Funds are to come from donors, sponsors, athlete participation fees and ticket sales, not to mention the "mandatory donations" collected from the public.

Whether funding meets expectations or not, the fact that so much money is being spent on PON just goes to show how much things have changed in the world of sports in Indonesia. Nowadays big money is spent on the promotion of sports in this country. The PON organizing committees no longer have to struggle to scrape together barely enough money to even consider holding the big event. And with prominent business or government figures as chairmen or patrons, sport associations no longer need to languish because of shortages of funds or facilities.

This in turn, it seems, is a consequence of the changed perception about sports, not only in Indonesia but in the world. Amateurism -- sport for the pure joy of it -- is practically dead. All over the world, governments, politicians, businesses and even the public at large have become greatly aware of the enormous propaganda value of sports. With this the concept of professionalism in sports emerged. Little money or effort is spared to try to push the best athletes available to the utmost limits of their capabilities. And the material rewards for those who achieve are considerable.

The debate between the two camps -- those who advocate amateurism on the one side and those who support professionalism on the other -- is still not definitively resolved although the advance of professionalism in sports seems difficult to resist. In any case, as far as Indonesia is concerned, the question that waits to be asked amid all this is: Why is it that despite all the luxuries that athletes enjoy nowadays, sports is not faring better in this country?

Admittedly, in many sports, our past athletic achievements fade in comparison with national records that have been established in recent years. But on a comparative basis -- that is to say, compared to other countries, even in this region -- it must be said that Indonesia has suffered a serious decline. On an overall basis, we did much better some three or four decades ago. The obvious question is, why? The sports situation at that time, after all, was much more spartan than it is now.

In soccer, for example Indonesia was a much respected power in this region during the 1950s and early 1960s. We have since had to relinquish that position to Burma (now Myanmar) and others. Other, much smaller countries such as Vietnam, seem to have managed to rise where we have continued to fail.

This problem has been raised many times before and many possible answers have been offered to the question posed above. There are those who say that for the majority of Indonesians sports just no longer has the drawing power which it once had. Perhaps there is some truth in this reasoning. Anyone who has been around long enough to make comparisons can attest that the number of sports fields or parks has been drastically reduced over the decades to make way for commercial or residential buildings. Even schools rarely have adequate facilities for sports.

Surely, if the promotion of sports in this country is to be taken seriously, this and other possible reasons for our country's decline are worth pondering by everyone concerned. Hopefully, the 14th National Games which opens today will mark the beginning of a new and brighter chapter in our sports annals.