With Indonesia being the host of the Asian Games 2018, this year deserves to be seen also as a sports year, a year for achievements.
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Kompas/Korano Nicolash LMS
Athletes in the PB PASI long-term national training for the Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang train in Rawamangun Athletics Stadium at Jakarta State University in Jakarta on Wednesday (24/1).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The regional elections and preparations ahead of the 2019 general election have trended public discourse around politics. However, this year, there is a huge event outside of politics that the nation, as the host of the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games 2018, will face. The country\'s focus and attention also needs to be directed to making the Asian sporting event a success.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in an interview with Kompas on Wednesday (24/1), said 2018 deserved to be called "the year of sports." Amid the ongoing discourse surrounding politics, the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games can calm political tensions.
“This is a sports year because there are so many sports events in Indonesia, and that can reduce political tensions,” said Kalla, who is also the chairman of the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) steering committee.
This sports year, Kalla said, the country had the momentum to make achievements in sports that will be talked about for decades to come. He gave an example of when the Indonesian national soccer team managed to draw 0-0 with Russia in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Fifty years later, the match is still much-talked about.
“Imagine if we had won [that match]. It would\'ve been talked about for a century. That is the greatness of sports. The presidential election may not be brought up in 50 years, but the 0-0 draw [between Indonesia and Russia] was talked about for 50 years. If we, in the Asian Games, finished in the top 10, for example, it will surely be talked about nonstop,” he said.
In the event, which will be held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, the government has targeted three Asian Games successes: successful arena construction, successful organization and successful achievement in sports. All three have the same priority to the government.
Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo
Vice President Jusuf Kalla (left), Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) chairman Erick Thohir (second right) and Vice President secretary Mohamad Oemar talk about progress on the Asian Games 2018 with Kompas reporters at the Vice President\'s office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday (24/1).
“However great the arenas are at Gelora Bung Karno [GBK] and in Palembang, if the organization is chaotic, people will think negatively about us. And even if the organization is great and everything goes well, but there are no sports achievements, the people will curse us. So we must give [equal] attention to all three,” Kalla said.
However, Kalla also realizes that the success of Asian Games can also have a political effect on the 2019 general election. “This [success] can be used as a campaign topic for the incumbent. It can increase popularity. If the result is bad, well, it [the effect] will be bad. But if the result is good, well, it\'s positive,” he said.
Promotion and progress
Currently, the government and Inasgoc are continuously promoting the Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang by holding a number of events, such as a countdown event, which aims to regain the public’s attention, and other events in a number of areas. Many Asian Games billboards are also seen around the GBK complex in Jakarta and Jakabaring Sports City in Palembang, which will be the venues of the Games.
However, Inasgoc secretary-general Eris Harryanto admitted there had been some critics as well as input from a number of parties regarding promotion of the Asian Games, which has not been optimal.
“We have received information that there are still many people that do not know what the Asian Games are and when they will be held. We will further intensify the promotion in accordance with the available budget,” Eris said.
Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo
A line of Asian Games 2018 banners with logos of sponsors decorate the divider of the Transjakarta lane on Jl. Sudirman on Thursday (25/1).
Meanwhile, in a survey of the Asian Games arena in Palembang on Thursday (25/1), some House Commission X members were concerned about the progress of construction, which has been relatively slow. According to Yayuk Basuki, a House Commission X member and former national tennis player, if the completion of the arenas is too close to the start of the Asian Games, there will not be enough time to hold test matches in the venues.
Based on observations by Kompas in Jakabaring, the construction of five Asian Games arenas there is not yet finished. The five arenas are for shooting, bowling, indoor tennis, skateboarding and roller skating. Meanwhile, none of the three athlete accommodations have been completed. Based on data from Inasgoc, the construction of tower one has only reached 75.6 percent, while towers two and three have reached only 40.7 percent and 80.1 percent, respectively.
South Sumatra Housing and Settlement Agency head Basyarudin Ahmad said the structural development of the Asian Games 2018 arena is on schedule and partially complete. At the moment, they are landscaping and preparing the equipment, for which the government has allocated Rp 60 million.
“All of the processes are scheduled to be finished by May or June,” he said. For the skateboarding and roller skating arenas, Basyarudin added that the construction will start in February and is scheduled to be finished in May.
Some arenas in Jakarta are also still unfinished, including the Velodrome, as well as the arenas for equestrian, jet skiing, sailing, squash and BMX. Referring to an Inasgoc report in mid-January, the construction of the Velodrome has been fast and ongoing, the equestrian arena has reached 97.53 percent completion, while the jet ski venue has reached only 0.09 percent. The arenas for sailing, squash and BMX, meanwhile, have not yet begun construction.
Commission X chairman Djoko Udianto reminded that, other than arena construction, other details needed to be addressed, such as the availability of toilets and the greening of surrounding areas. “Details may seem insignificant, but they are really important,” he said.
Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the construction of all the arenas and supporting facilities for the Asian Games was going as planned. Now, most of the construction projects are in the final stages of landscaping.
“For example, for the construction in GBK, the arena is 100 percent finished, but the landscape is only 80 percent done. However, in June it will all be done,” he said.
Regarding their preparedness to hold the Asian Games, Inasgoc deputy I for Games operation Harry Warganegara said the committee would improve coordination preparations between divisions within Inasgoc when they hold test games for eight events from Feb. 8 to 25. The preparation will include the transportation system, accommodation and payment systems.
“The test games will be a simulation for holding the Asian Games 2018. So, even though it will only be done for eight events, the result will be applied in all of the arenas,” he said.
