Six PABBSI officials quit posts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid pressure for Indonesian bodybuilders to break with their parent organization -- the Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association (PABBSI), six association officials announced their resignation on Monday.

They cited their inability to work with PABBSI chairman Dharma Surya as the reason for their resignations.

Yopie Irawan, one of the six who resigned, said their moves had nothing to do with the breakaway issue, but had stemmed purely from their disappointment with the PABBSI leadership.

"We have decided to resign from PABBSI because we are very disappointed with the way Dharma Surya has been running the organization," Steve Tengko, another of those who resigned, told a media conference here on Monday.

The other four are Sinatra Kaeses (secretary-general), Warsito (head of administration affairs), Achmad Irwan Siregar (weightlifting technical department head), and Yaya Sunarya (powerlifting technical department head).

Steve, who was in charge of development, said their resignation letters were submitted to PABBSI on Monday, with copies being made available to the press.

Dharma Surya was accused of acting as a one-man show in his management of the organization.

The letters cite certain policies adopted by Dharma, which are claimed to be indications of his inconsistent policies and violations of the organization's statutes.

The latest controversial decision was when Dharma endorsed weightlifter Erwin Abdullah's move to Riau without notifying the PABBSI's South Sulawesi chapter, with which Erwin had been associated for years, Yopie said.

Yopie, whose PABBSI post was supervising bodybuilding technical affairs, accused Dharma of also violating the sport's ethical code by protecting two athletes who had tested positive for doping. He refused to name the athletes.

Steve, a former bodybuilder, and Yopie have recently floated a scheme to establish a bodybuilding body independent of PABBSI.

"We share the opinion that this country needs more focused development in bodybuilding," Yopie told The Jakarta Post, but refused to elaborate when asked about their next moves.