Soeharto's Olympic vision

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto wants Indonesia to host both the 2006 Asian Games and 2008 Olympics.

"The President asked me to assess the possibility of Indonesia hosting the two international major sport events," Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Hayono Isman said after meeting the President yesterday.

Hayono said Soeharto was confident both the Asian Games and the Olympics could be held here as the economy was expanding and absolute poverty had almost been eradicated.

"It is not yet final that Indonesia will bid for the two events because the feasibility of it still needs to be investigated," Hayono said.

When asked whether Indonesia could host the two events considering the decline of Indonesia's standing in many sports, the minister said this trend could be reversed if the private sector played a bigger role in developing sports across the country.

"The private sector is definitely required to help sporting development in the country, and to host the SEA Games, Asian Games and Olympics. The government will invite the private sector to cooperate more in developing sports in Indonesia.

"The coming SEA Games will become the benchmark for how the private sector can help develop sports," Hayono said.

During the meeting, the minister also reported on the plans to host the Youth National Coordination meeting from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27, and the National Sports Convention from Feb. 27 to Feb. 28. Hayono said he was hoping Soeharto would attend the two meetings.

The purpose of the two meetings, Hayono said, was to review the development programs for youth activities and sports undertaken in the past three years as well as to gather input for the 1998 State Policy Guidelines.

Problems

Hayono explained to the President that the sports convention was urgently needed in order to overcome problems in the youth and sports sectors.

"Based on facts and the data we have compiled, the physical condition of students, workers and the young is low. The development of sports is also not coordinated well and is often duplicated.

"These facts include the declining number of medals and national athletes' poor performances in the 1994 Asian Games, the 1995 SEA Games and the 1996 Olympics. The people are disappointed by the poor results," Hayono said.

At the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Indonesia only managed to finish in second place and at the 1994 Asian Games, Indonesia dropped from seventh to 11th position. At last year's Olympics, Indonesia took only one gold medal, courtesy of badminton doubles stars Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagdja. At the Barcelona Olympics Indonesia won two golds, one silver and two bronzes, all in badminton.

According to Hayono, many fundamental problems and constraints exist. He said that although schools and universities included sport in their curriculums, it was not in line with the guidance set by the government.

"How can we improve the nation's sporting achievements if the curriculum in schools and universities does not comply with the pattern and guidance set by the government?" the minister asked.

But Hayono said the biggest obstacle to improved sporting performances was the lack of motivators, such as qualified coaches and organizers.

"We need to increase the number of our sports facilities if we want to develop sports. We should concentrate on this first," he stressed. (lnt)