Rp 20 billion sought from sponsors for SEA Games
JAKARTA (JP): The underwriting consortium for the Southeast Asian Games to be held here next year is aiming to raise at least Rp 20 billion (US$8.5 million) from sponsorships deals.
"We are trying to encourage international companies, such as Konica and Coca Cola, which are traditionally involved in such major events, to take part in the Games," Enggartiasto Lukito, a member of the consortium, said during a meeting with the Games organizing committee.
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas, State Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, and Wismoyo Arismunandar, chairman of the National Sports Council, attended yesterday's meeting.
The consortium, which was established in March, also plans to raise funds from the public by selling stickers to wealthier people in cooperation with the state-owned electricity company, PLN, PT Telkom and Immigration offices.
It will also sell the stickers in hotels, restaurants and other high-class entertainment venues.
The consortium, which is led by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, plans to raise Rp 70 billion (US$29.8 million) for the biennial sports event scheduled for Oct. 11 to Oct. 19.
Of the total, Rp 35 billion will be used for the training of athletes for the Games and the rest will be used to prepare sports facilities, including the athletes' dormitories.
Azwar, who is also chairman of the SEA Games board of patrons, told reporters after the meeting that the committee will study three proposals on how to accommodate about 4,300 athletes, 700 officials and 900 referees from the seven ASEAN nations and the three countries with observer status.
Options
The first option is to build an athletes' complex on the four- hectare site of the old Senayan shooting range. The building, which might later be used as an office complex, would require 0.95 hectares. Construction would take ten months.
However, the plan still needs to be discussed with Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, who is chairman of the Senayan Management Board.
The second alternative is to build the village in Cileungsi, a suburb about 25 kilometers south of here. The organizers would then have to take into account Jakarta's awful traffic jams between Cileungsi and the Senayan sports complex to ensure the athletes did not arrive late for their events.
The third choice is booking 3,000 hotel rooms near the Senayan sports complex at places such as the Century Park Hotel, the Hilton Hotel, the Ibis Hotel and the Kartika Chandra Hotel.
Azwar said that the consequence of using hotel rooms is that the number of rooms usually available for tourists would be reduced.
However, Azwar said that if the organizers adopted option three they would not have to worry so much about the traffic jams in the heart of the capital.
"The SEA Games Council will meet next week. It will discuss the provisional venues for the proposed 34 sports and I hope the housing for athletes will be close to the venues," he said.
"We should make use of the existing facilities," he said.
Azwar said that the Games will be staged after the swearing-in session of the new House of Representatives, which will take place from Oct. 1 to Oct. 3, 1997.
Hayono expressed his hope that Indonesia will be able to learn from the just-completed 14th National Games, where spectators quickly lost interest in the event.
"We have to be able to stage a more convenient and interesting event for the public," he said.
Wismoyo is expected to chair the council meeting, which will be attended by representatives of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the host Indonesia, on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 to decide the 34 sports.
The organizers have picked Hanoman -- a white half-monkey knight from Ramayana mythology -- as the Games' mascot. Hanoman symbolizes the knight's "never-say-die" spirit. (yan)