Wismoyo regrets YLKI's call on sticker payment

JAKARTA (JP): The president of the 19th SEA Games Organizing Committee, Wismoyo Arismunandar, said yesterday that the Indonesian Consumers Foundation should not urge people to boycott paying for Games stickers.

Wismoyo said: "The agency should not make such a call. The sticker sales extension was made with the President's approval. They don't realize that without the stickers we won't get any money. They shouldn't exaggerate the issue."

"I understand that the organizers must give transparent reports but how transparent they are is up to them," he said.

Minister for Social Services Inten Soeweno has extended the sticker sales until Dec. 31.

The agency called on the public Tuesday not to pay for stickers when they paid their telephone, water and electricity bills.

The call was provoked by the fact that the Games consortium has yet to issue transparent reports on its budgeting.

The foundation also urged the consortium to publish the reports.

But Wismoyo said the sticker sales might be extended even longer if its is deemed necessary.

"We can extend the sticker sales for more than three months, which will end in December. It depends on how much we still need to cover our expenses for the Games," said Wismoyo, who is also the National Sports Council chairman.

The consortium's executive director, Bambang Yoga Sugama, said Monday that the consortium would give transparent reports as soon as its financial reports had been audited.

The consortium originally expected to receive Rp 35 billion (US$9,722,223) from the sticker sales, to help meet the Rp 105 billion budget to stage the just completed Games and finance the national training.

The organizers will discuss all the problems in their plenary meeting on Oct. 28.

Separately yesterday, the organizers' treasurer, Setya Novanto, said that the organizers had paid the bills at the 35 hotels which accommodated athletes during the Games.

"Some hotels outside Jakarta still need to finish their administration work but we have prepared all the money," said Novanto, who is also the council's treasurer.

But Joko S. Tjandra, a director of the Hotel Mulia Senayan, said that the payment had yet to finalized because the consortium did not have enough money.

"The payment for the Hotel Mulia and Hotel Atlet Century Park has been delayed until the consortium receives the money from the sticker sales," he said.

"We understand that the consortium is prioritizing the athletes' training and the purchasing of sports equipment. Two months before the Games started, we understood that the consortium faced financial problems," he added.

About 1,800 athletes stayed in the hotel's 700 completed rooms, excluding the VIP and the National Olympic Committee guests.

Unlike other hotels, which charged $40 per person per night, Hotel Mulia charged each athlete $80, inclusive of three meals.

"If I'm not mistaken, each athlete, with three meals, only had to pay $80 net. I don't know how much the organizers have paid and I don't doubt on the consortium's commitment to pay for the accommodation." (yan)