'€œStarting from February 2015, the Youth and Sports Ministry will open positions for prospective volunteers and we want to see universities get involved," Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrowi said on Saturday in Malang as quoted by Antara news agency.

"I want the Asian Games to be noticed not only in Jakarta and Malang but in the whole world as well.'€

Imam said that a presidential decree relating to the games, including event rules and regulations, would be completed and discussed in 2015.

The thousands of volunteers, said Imam, would mostly act as guides, administrative staff, IT staff and assistants for the duration of the games. They are needed because of the high numbers of world athletes who will attend and compete.

The volunteers will also have the duty of introducing and representing Indonesia'€™s cultural heritage as part of efforts to ensure the success of Indonesia'€™s management of the event.

'€œCurrently, the infrastructure and the facilities available are being constructed and improved, and the athletes in their respective fields are training harder to ensure a successful Indonesian performance at the games,'€ Imam added.

Aside from volunteers, the ministry will also open applications to design the logo, mascot and jingle for the 2018 Asian Games.

Initially, Vietnam was elected to host the Asian Games in 2019 but backed out of its duties this year because of the country'€™s financial problems. Indonesia was picked to replace Vietnam after finishing in second place in the initial election.

Indonesia, however, requested that the event be brought forward to 2018 because of general elections scheduled for 2019. (dyl/nvn)

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