T

he long-awaited funding for the upcoming Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG), which will take place in Palembang, South Sumatra, were finally disbursed on Tuesday and the games'€™ organizing committee has appealed to the public to open its arms to welcome the visiting contingents.

'€œWhat is important for us is how unified we are in welcoming our guests, who will be arriving soon,'€ Rita Subowo, who heads the central organizing committee, said after the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Youth and Sports Ministry.

The disbursed funds, which totaled Rp 128 billion (US$11 million), were allocated to the national committee (Rp 1.8 billion), the central organizers (Rp 47 billion) and the local organizers (79 billion).

The ministry was represented by secretary Mumpuni Widarso at the MoU signing.

Rita said the organizers still needed a legal umbrella for the allocation of funds for the sake of
accountability.

She said the ISG, which will run from Sept. 22 through Oct. 1, would feature several top competitors from participating countries.

'€œThe head of the ISSF [Islamic Solidarity Games Federation] from Saudi Arabia says he will attend the opening ceremony. So will the Qatari Emir,'€ she said.

She said she hoped that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would officially launch the games
on Sept. 22.

'€œSeveral heads of state are also arriving,'€ she said. '€œI met some of them in Argentina. We also held a meeting with the ISSF and they pledged their support.'€

Rita, who is the president of the Indonesia Olympic Committee (IOC), was in Buenos Aires last week to attend the IOC Congress. The congress elected German Thomas Bach as the new IOC president, as well as selecting Tokyo as the host of the 2020 Olympics. It also chose wrestling, over squash and baseball, as one of the sports for 2020.

'€œBefore the congress wound up, I returned to Indonesia, aware that ISG work awaited me,'€ Rita said.

The quadrennial ISG sporting event features athletes from member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

As many as 44 of 57 OIC countries are confirmed for the upcoming event, which showcases 13 different sports with a total of 1,530 medals on offer for an expected 3,200 athletes and officials.

Palembang'€™s appointment as the host city '€” replacing Pekanbaru '€” only one month before the opening ceremony has caused concern among local organizers, as some of the venues are still not complete.

With the funds not being disbursed until Tuesday, the local organizers were forced to turn to the provincial budget.

Despite the glitches, Rita gave her assurances that the games would go ahead as planned.

'€œWe went to Palembang on Monday to meet the local organizers. I also met with the governor and I thanked the local government for accepting the appointment as host city. Any other administration would probably have been unable to prepare in such a short time,'€ she said.