RI sports still in the balance despite new bill

RI sports still in the balance despite new bill

Budi A. Sanusi and Achmad Gozali, Contributors, Jakarta

Credit should be given to the National Sports Council (KONI) and
the Directorate General of Sports at the Ministry of National
Education for the drafting of the sports bill now being
deliberated by the House of Representatives.

The bill is the first of its kind in Indonesian sports history
and hopefully will be passed immediately into law by the House.
If passed, the bill could prove to be a landmark in national
sports development, marking a new era of improving performances
by Indonesian athletes competing in international events.

Unfortunately, however, deliberation of the bill does not seem
to be a top priority for House Commission VI for social and
people's welfare, which says there are many other bills awaiting
deliberation.

Still, this sports bill is "conditio sine qua non" --
something that is inevitable if the country is intent on seeing
its athletes stand on equal footing with their foreign
counterparts.

The bill is necessary because it covers a great deal of
aspects pertaining to the life and condition of sportsmen and
women, both when they are still competing and after they have
called it a day.

It is sad to note that many Indonesian athletes who earned
much fame and adulation during their careers are now trying to
scrape out a living.

Take, for example, the fate of former long distance runner
Gurnam Singh and former footballer Abdul Kadir.

Singh, a bronze medalist at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games,
ended up as a handyman doing odd jobs and a street sweeper. He
was even reportedly forced to live in a Hindu temple in Medan,
North Sumatra, after he was evicted from his house after losing a
legal dispute.

Kadir, a member of the star-studded national team of the late
'60s and early '70s that notched a string of celebrated victories
in Asia, including the prestigious King's Cup in Bangkok, is now
lying in a hospital bed due to kidney failure. Now 53, Kadir
however, is more fortune than Singh because he receives financial
support from his former teammates, officials of the Soccer
Association of Indonesia and President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
husband, Taufik Kiemas.

These two cases are just an illustration of the poverty and
misfortune affecting many former national athletes, which could
have been prevented had an effective sports law been in force.

We certainly do not want these types of misfortunes to
continue taking place in the future. To this end, the House
should expedite the process of passing the sports bill into law.

However, a careful read of all of the articles of the sports
bill shows that something quite essential is missing: it does not
clearly elaborate on the certainty of social security for
athletes, particularly amateurs, once their playing days are
over. Though there is a clause in the sports bill concerning the
future and social security of athletes, it is vague and unclear
whether this social security will allow the athletes to live
decent lives.

To paraphrase founding president Sukarno, "A great nation is a
nation that can honor its heroes." Indonesia should then treat
the athletes who have done the nation proud like heroes.

What is happening now is that they are garlanded and given a
motorcade when they are still competing. But once they make an
exit due to age and injury they are simply neglected.

Sports heroes deserve to be treated as such, with sufficient
security for a decent life in the future. In fact, this is one of
the most pivotal points that should be explicitly spelled out in
the bill, which would spur our athletes to perform better and
better.

This in turn would attract and more and more talented
youngsters to become athletes, with their eyes fixed on making a
name for themselves.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the bill will serve
its purpose once it is passed into law, or if it is merely a
costly venture with no significant meaning.

All in all, the Indonesian people should have a sense of
optimism that things are on the right track, and KONI should be
lauded for this breakthrough. This step, of course, should have
been taken long before, but as the old saying goes better late
than never.

Bearing in mind that KONI chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar will
end his tenure early next year, it would be fitting to have the
sports bill passed into law before he bids farewell to the
national sports community. This would not only honor Wismoyo's
dedication and initiative in proposing the bill, but also could
mark a milestone and provide a legal instrument for the next KONI
chairman to act swiftly in order to make comprehensive
improvements within the national sports system.

However, it seems that everything is hanging in the balance
despite the bill. But let's keep our fingers crossed that the
bill bodes well for the improvement of Indonesian sports.