Soeharto sets deadline for SEAG village row decision

Soeharto sets deadline for SEAG village row decision

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday urged the 19th
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games Organizing Committee to settle the
row over plans to build a new athletes village this week.

State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman told
reporters after a meeting with the President at his office that
the Games committee would meet with the Jakarta governor and the
Gelora Senayan Foundation either Thursday or Friday to solve the
dispute.

"We expect to receive principle permits for the project from
both Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and Minister/State Secretary
Moerdiono in his capacity as the head of Senayan foundation
during the meeting," Hayono said.

"If they give the permits, we will keep alive our hopes to
build the athletes village within the time left."

The Games underwriting consortium, led by Soeharto's son
Bambang Trihatmodjo, plans to build a village of 1,000 rooms on a
four-hectare plot at Senayan formerly used as a shooting range.
It has pledged to complete the project which might cost up to
US$70 million in 10 months.

Hayono, chairman of the National Sports Council and the
committee Wismoyo Arismunandar, and Coordinating Minister for
People's Welfare Azwar Anas, who is also head of the committee's
board of patrons, reported to the President about the ongoing
preparations for the biennial event.

The Games, the third hosted by Indonesia since 1979, will run
during the school holidays from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19. A total of
440 gold medals will be at stake in 34 sports, a considerable
hike from the last Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which saw 28
sports and 324 golds being contested.

Accommodation has given the committee a headache since all but
six events during the upcoming SEA Games will be held at the
Senayan sports complex. An estimated 6,900 athletes and officials
from 10 countries are expected to pour into the capital city for
the sporting festival.

The city administration refused to issue the building permit
for the athletes village project at Senayan, saying that the
Games committee had never submitted the project's masterplan.

All referees, coaches and officials will stay at the Atlet
Century Park hotel near Senayan which regularly accommodates
athletes competing at the complex.

Objections

The committee had also considered building an athletes village
at Cileungsi near Bogor, West Java. But Wismoyo said that most of
the visiting teams raised objections to staying far away from the
sports venues.

"It will trouble the athletes a lot if they have to drive tens
of kilometers across the city just for a break at their
accommodation," Wismoyo said. "Accommodation must help athletes
reach their best form."

The last solution to the accommodation problem would be to
lease apartments and hotels in downtown Jakarta. Azwar quoted
Soeharto as saying that such a solution must not affect tourism.

Soeharto also asked the committee to help Indonesia gain a
double success by both winning the Games overall title and
hosting the event successfully.

"Choosing the sports is among our stratagem to win back the
overall title. We pick events in which we have great chances to
excel," said Wismoyo.

Last year Indonesia suffered its second upset since 1985 at
the hands of Thailand. Wismoyo said that in next year's Games
Indonesia will expect another tough challenge from visiting
Thailand which will be gearing up for the 1998 Asian Games at
home.

The Games committee has picked Hanoman, a half-monkey knight
in the Ramayana myth, as the Games' mascot. (amd)