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Sports Ministry to maintain PAL
The newly installed State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Andi Alifian Mallarangeng, said Wednesday that the ministry would maintain the existence of its Top-Tier Athletic Program (PAL) as it had been proven to be effective in developing the country's sports
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he newly installed State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Andi Alifian Mallarangeng, said Wednesday that the ministry would maintain the existence of its Top-Tier Athletic Program (PAL) as it had been proven to be effective in developing the country's sports.
"PAL is an effective program run by dedicated people. Our concern now lies in seeking a compromise on the roles of KONI and the ministry," Andi said at a press conference held at his office Wednesday, after a meeting with the chairwoman of the Indonesian Sports Council (KONI), Rita Subowo.
"We will conduct more detailed discussions on it afterwards," said Andi, declining to comment further on whether PAL would continue to be run by the ministry, or move under KONI's command.
Under previous sports minister Adhyaksa Dault, KONI and the ministry had a frosty relationship, as the former minister made an unprecedented decision by establishing PAL, a move viewed by some commentators as usurping the previous monopoly held by KONI's national athletics training camp.
Meanwhile, Rita expressed similarly supportive views on PAL, saying that "PAL deserves to be maintained and developed, as it is one of the programs that will allow us to reach our target *of further developing sports*.
"The ministry will also need to create a sports blueprint *for athletes* to reach peak performances," said Rita. Andi said he would soon hold a national summit to formulate the country's sports development blueprint.
Andi said he looked forward to developing national athletes who could improve the country's performance in world-class sports events, including the Olympic Games and the Asian Games.
Indonesia ranked a poor 42nd in the Beijing Olympic Games last year, while ranking 22nd - or only sixth among the Southeast Asian countries - in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
"My priority is to create outstanding athletes able to hoist the red-and-white flag in sports competitions around the world... We should be closer to the top 20 *in the Olympic Games*," said the 46-year-old sports minister.
Andi said he believed that KONI and the sport associations had a better understanding of the development of their athletes than the ministry.
He also expressed his view that a more intimate relationship between the ministry and KONI was one of the crucial keys to success in developing the performance levels of the country's athletes.
"We will allow KONI to lead the way while the ministry *provides support* as long as KONI can provide both financial and work performance accountability to both the government and to the sports associations," he said.
As the ministry's role will begin to shift to focusing on directing, monitoring and evaluating, Andi said that he would make an effort to re-evaluate his ministry's priorities when allocating the ministry's state budget.
The head of PAL, Ahmad Sutjipto, told The Jakarta Post recently that the Sports Ministry should concentrate the bulk of its budget allocation to identification and development of talent.
"The development of young talented athletes must get the biggest portion of the budget," Sutjipto said, adding that the remaining budget should then be allocated for PAL, which is a high-performance program for less than 200 elite athletes ready to compete at an international level.
