Sports minister off to rocky start with late arrival

Eva C. Komandjaja and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

He has been in his post less than a week, but State Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Adhyaksa Dault has already run into controversy.

The minister was scheduled to address a forum hosted by a group of journalists at the office of the National Sports Council (KONI) here on Wednesday afternoon. However, Adhyaksa arrived late, which forced the cancellation of his speech.

Representatives of sports organizations also attended the forum, which was titled "KONI's role in sports development in light of the revival of the sports ministry".

Adhyaksa had been scheduled to deliver his speech at 2 p.m. but he still had not arrived at 2:30 p.m., much to the displeasure of participants.

"When are we going to start? I don't like waiting like this. When will the minister come?" Tigor Tanjung, a representative of the Indonesian Track and Field Association, said.

There was a rumor that Adhyaksa was headed to the KONI building from his home in Kalibata, South Jakarta, but was stuck in bad traffic.

He was also reported to be taking a nap, which was later denied by the minister.

He finally turned up at 3:30 p.m. to the growls and irritated comments of those few people still in attendance. Several people said the minister, who was accompanied by Director General of Sports Affairs Toho Cholik and former badminton champion Icuk Sugiarto, did not care about their time.

The minister offered an apology, saying he was late because of a family emergency.

"I am sorry for being late. I told the committee that I was coming to this discussion, but something urgent came up. A relative passed away and I didn't have time to call the committee to tell them that I would be late," Adhyaksa told the remaining journalists in the room.

He then attended another event in the KONI building, in which Indonesia's five Athens Olympic medalists received Olympic pins as a token of appreciation for their achievements.

The athletes were gold medalist Taufik Hidayat (badminton), silver medalist Lisa Rumbewas (weightlifting), and bronze medalists Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Flandi Limpele and Eng Hian (badminton).

KONI chairman Agum Gumelar presented the pins to the athletes, except for Lisa, who could not attend the event.

The athletes, along with their coaches, also received financial aid as part of the Olympics Solidarity program.

Taufik and his coach Mulyo, Lisa, windsurfer Oka Sulaksana, tennis player Angelique Widjaja, coach Deddy Tedjamukti, cyclist Santya Tri Kusuma and coach Wahyudi Hidayat were among the athletes and coaches receiving the aid.

Indonesia sent 39 athletes to the Athens Olympics in September, coming home with one gold, one silver and two bronzes.