'The most qualified for Pelti head is a woman'

'The most qualified for Pelti head is a woman'

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Martina Wijaya has received the endorsement of one of the leading
tennis personalities in the country in her bid to be elected
chairperson of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti), which
will be decided during its congress in Makassar, South Sulawesi,
next week.

Martina, whose current role in Pelti is supervisor of
development, is one of the main candidates to replace the
incumbent chairperson Tanri Abeng.

The other is Permana Agung, who is a top official at the
Finance Ministry. The congress will run from Dec. 15 to 17 where
representatives from the provincial chapters will also attend.

However, it was Martina, who seems to be in the driver's seat
now that Moerdiono, who was Pelti chairman during the 1986-1990
period, openly spoke in favor of her.

"In my opinion, Martina is the right person to take over at
the helm of Pelti," Moerdiono said after he opened his press
conference with an elaboration of the criteria of an ideal
chairman.

Moerdiono, who also served as state secretary during the
Soeharto administration, emphasized six items of eligibility
criteria for the head of Pelti.

But he did not promptly point to Martina, who was also present
at the press conference, as the person he meant until he was
asked to divulge his preference.

He said that Martina, who led the Indonesian tennis squad to
three medals -- a gold, a silver and a bronze at the 2002 Asian
Games, had a lot of dedication in addition to her lengthy service
with Pelti.

Moerdiono, who admitted he had not been following national
tennis development intensely, said it would take a lot of hard
work for the next chairman to push national tennis to
international level.

Martina and Permana had already held their respective press
conferences a few weeks ago in a bid for top post.