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.