Sports officials to meet President

Sports officials to meet President

JAKARTA (JP): National Sports Council (KONI) chairman Wismoyo
Arismunandar, State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mahadi
Sinambela and organizers of the 15th National Games (PON) will
meet with President Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday.

KONI deputy secretary-general Husein Argasasmita said Wismoyo
would give the President a summary of the council's two-day
plenary meeting held last week.

"We will bring the recommendations issued following the
plenary meeting to the President tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2:30
p.m.," Husein said on Tuesday.

He said KONI would not fabricate the summary of the meeting or
the recommendations from the commissions on athlete development,
organizational affairs, and budgetary and general affairs, which
were established during the plenary gathering.

"The summary of the discussions were presented at the end of
the plenary meeting. The recommendations must be implemented by
the KONI chairman and his officials, KONI's provincial chapter
officials and sports organizations," he said.

The commission on athlete development recommended the
management of Gelora Senayan sports complex be handed over to
KONI.

It also suggested a training program similar to the Golden
Garuda project for disabled athletes from the Indonesian Sports
Body for the Disabled. The commission said this would enable the
country's disabled athletes to compete in international events.

The Golden Garuda project is one of KONI's most ambitious
programs, aimed at pushing Indonesia into the top six in the 2006
Asian Games.

The commission on organizational affairs approved the results
of bidding for the 16th PON. Two provinces, South Sumatra and
Central Java, were selected in the opening round of the bid. The
commission gave KONI a maximum of three months to receive a
decision from the government on which province would host the
Games.

The commission also argued for the continued staging of PON,
saying the Games were needed to promote national unity, increase
friendship and improve the performances of national athletes. It
also suggested KONI include the disabled in PON.

The commission on budgetary and general affairs asked KONI to
urge the government to issue letters requesting provincial
authorities allocate between 5 percent and 10 percent of their
budgets to develop sports in their areas.

It also said that in the long term, the government or
provincial administrations should include the Golden Garuda
training project in their budgets.

The commission also urged KONI to ask the government to change
the organization's status from that of a semigovernmental
organization to special non-governmental organization, thus
allowing it to receive direct funding from the government.

It also reminded KONI to realize its long-term goals set
during the 1999 national sports meeting. (ivy)