Deputy IV for Sports Achievement Improvement at the Youth and Sports Ministry Mulyana (center), accompanied by National Sports Council (KONI) deputy chairman Eka Wahyu Kasih (left) and Youth and Sports Ministry’s assistant deputy for sports achievement Chandra Bhakti, holds a press conference on state funding assistance for national sports achievement improvement at the Youth and Sports Ministry in Central Jakarta on Thursday (11/1).
Indonesia’s elite athletes should used the eight months before the start of the Asian Games to work on their physical condition, mental preparedness and strategies for attaining the highest achievement. In reality, the Red-and-White national training center has not been running optimally, because the government and sports associations have been preoccupied with budget calculations.
Indonesia Bike Sport Association (PB ISSI) development and achievement head Sugeng Trihartono appeared to be in a panic when he left the office of the Youth and Sports Ministry’s Deputy IV for Sports Achievement Improvement in Jakarta on Thursday (28/12). He rushed to the waiting room, around 10 steps from the Deputy IV’s office.
“How did it go, Pak?” asked Atik Kusmiati, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesia Roller Skate Sport Association (Perserosi), who was waiting for her turn to enter the Deputy IV’s office to confirm their proposed national training budget. “The athletes are being stripped down one by one,” Sugeng replied.
Several sports association representatives who were also in the waiting room were also listening to the conversation. They were also hoping anxiously, waiting for their turn to confirm their proposed budget. Not long after, Sugeng phoned the PB ISSI secretary-general, Jadi Rajagukguk.
“I can’t make the decision myself. There needs to be a decision by the secretary-general. A lot of budget needs to be cut and the number of athletes also reduced,” he said after the call.
PB ISSI had received a national training fund of “only” Rp 11.9 billion of the proposed Rp 61 billion budget.
Through the final week of 2017 and into early 2018, the waiting room of the Youth and Sports Ministry Deputy IV has been filled by representatives of 40 sports associations looking to submit their proposed national training budget. Their proposals are verified in turns, starting from 9:00 a.m. until late at night, although the office is usually empty.
Negotiations
The verification dynamics involves bargaining, both as regards the number of athletes and the amount of financial assistance. In fact, some sports association board members have put their feet down, are willing to keep visiting the office to reach an agreement with the ministry.
Indonesia Bridge Association (Gabsi) chairman Eka Wahyu Kasih is one of the sports association representatives that has been “tough” during the verification. When the Youth and Sports Ministry told him that the budget allocation for bridge was “only” Rp 9 billion, Eka objected immediately, because the figure was much smaller than the proposed Rp 23.8 billion.
A week later, the bridge team agreed to the amount. “Before, we were never invited to discuss. After it was explained, we accepted,” said Eka, who is also the deputy chairman of the National Sports Council (KONI).
A similar objection was raised by the Indonesian Gymnastics Association (Persani). Of the 22 national training athletes proposed by the gymnastics team, the ministry had only approved 10 athletes.
The proposed budget of Rp 29.4 billion was cut to Rp 7 billion. “It seems like our proposal was not read. They don’t look at the real needs,” said Persani’s development and achievement head, Dian Arifin.
The Youth and Sports Ministry’s Deputy IV for sports achievement improvement, Mulyana, said that the budget proposed by the 40 sports associations totaled Rp 1.2 trillion, or twice as much as the Rp 735.06 billion in available funds.
In the draft budgetary assistance for sports associations, the ministry has only allocated Rp 375 billion, or 51 percent of the total national training budget. The remaining budget will be used for other things such as Rp 80 billion for the Asian Para Games, Rp 100 billion for additional operational costs, Rp 70 billion for the operational budget of the delegation head and delegation, and Rp 35 billion for KONI.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla instructed the Youth and Sports Ministry on Jan. 3 to allocate at least 70 percent of the budget (around Rp 514 billion) for priority sports with the potential of winning a gold medal in the Asian Games. The ministry’s deputy IV then revised the budget allocation to Rp 432.3 billion for the Asian Games national training and Rp 130 billion for the Asian Para Games national training. The total budget of Rp 562.3 billion is in keeping with the Vice President’s instruction.
Withdrawals
The verification of the proposed budget also led to two of the 11-member verification team formed by the Youth and Sports Ministry to step down. Dikdik Jafar Sidiq, a lecturer at the Indonesian Education University, and Hifni Hasan withdrew from the team because they believed the budgeting process did not follow procedure.
The issue became more complicated when it was recently discovered that the verification team had not signed all the verification reports, one of the requirements for the signing the memorandum of understanding on state budgetary funds. Without the verification reports, the disbursement of allocation funds will be disrupted because the administrative requirement is unmet.
This is not the first time board members of sports associations have undergone a long and challenging process to request financial assistance for national training. Indonesian Karate Sport Federation (Forki) had even appointed one person to ensure the fund’s disbursement. “To disburse the fund, we need to watch over it from the morning, sometimes until evening. If we don’t chase after it, the disbursement won’t go smoothly,” said Philips King Gelado, the head coach of the Indonesian karate team who is also handling the disbursement of the national training fund.
The badminton association (PP PBSI) has appointed Lius Pongoh from 2010 to September 2016 to take care of the budgetary fund from the government. “The disbursement is often not done on time, but I always chase after it when it is due. I go by the principle that as long as it’s not for my personal interest, I will fight for it until the end,” Lius said.
The twists and turns experienced by sports associations in order to obtain funds from the government is ironic amid the achievement targets set on the athletes who are defending the pride of the “Red and White”.
