S

ome Rp 1.6 trillion (US$173 million) has been sought for the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2011 when host Indonesia is looking to regain its regional supremacy.

The budget, a revision from the initial proposal, will include financing of athletes' training as part of Indonesia's ambition to win between 100 and 150 gold medals to emerge champion.

Last August, then state sports and youth affairs minister Adhyaksa Dault proposed to the Finance Ministry for Rp 1.575 trillion to be apportioned from the National Budget.

It will be the first SEA Games Indonesia has hosted after 1997 when it last received the most gold medals.

The initial proposed budget, according to Adhyaksa's successor, Andi Alfian Mallarangeng, did not include a sum to be paid to successful athletes as bonuses.

"We expect to receive the ammunition soon.

"We want to prepare our athletes for the event earlier," Andi said after a meeting with Commission X at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Besides financing the contingent workouts, the budget will include the venue construction and renovation amount, and procurement of competition equipment.

"We want to increase from 100 to 150 gold medals at the event," Andi said.

Indonesia collected 43 gold, 53 silver and 74 bronze medals, finishing in third place behind Thailand and Vietnam at Laos SEA Games last year.

Back home, the gold medalists received Rp 200 million each.

Silver and bronze medalists were handed Rp 50 million and 25 million respectively.

The ministry and the House's Commission X have agreed to establish a working committee to assess the rationale of the proposed budget.

"The committee will work for two months as of the second week of February," Commission X member Ferdiansyah said.

"One task of this committee is to determine whether the plan to host the SEA Games in four different provinces is realistic," Ferdiansyah said.

Unlike the previous edition, Indonesia will host the Games in four cities in four provinces.

The cities are Jakarta, Palembang (South Sumatra), Bandung (West Java) and Semarang (Central Java).

It was revealed later that the number might only be three with Semarang to host the ASEAN Paragames, usually following the SEA Games.