Sports needs special board, observer says

JAKARTA (JP): A sports observer has urged the next government to set up an organization to handle the country's sports should the office of the sports ministry be combined with the education ministry.

MF Siregar said Monday that he did not think it a good idea to combine the State Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports with the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"Should they be combined into one ministry, then I proposed the new government set up an organization to handle national sports. This type of organization could be like the National Family Planning Board," Siregar said as quoted by Antara.

Siregar proposed the organization be named the National Sports Development Organization. "The organization could include education, the National Sports Council (KONI) and the sports community."

Siregar said the coordinating minister for people's welfare had proposed setting up a sports organization in 1996.

"The organization was not established following Indonesia's failure in the 1995 18th SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand," he said. Siregar is a former KONI secretary-general.

He said that if the organization was established he hoped it would have the authority to handle all sport matters, including the human resources aspect of sport.

The organization, he added, should also develop all technical aspects as well as sports facilities and infrastructure. "It could also become a center for all data and information on sports." (lnt)