Rp 20 billion sought from sponsors for SEA Games
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)