TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

OCA doubts Jakarta set for Asiad

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has said that the Olympics Council of Asia (OCA) is doubting the city is making progress in getting ready to host the 2018 Asian Games (Asiad)

Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, November 27, 2015

Share This Article

Change Size

OCA doubts Jakarta set for Asiad

J

akarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama has said that the Olympics Council of Asia (OCA) is doubting the city is making progress in getting ready to host the 2018 Asian Games (Asiad).

After a meeting with the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), Ahok said that the city administration would speed up preparations to host the games, as its position is threatened by China, which also sought to host them.

'€œWe need to step up our game. The OCA is doubting Indonesia'€™s position as host of the 2018 Asian Games. Our position is threatened because China is already very prepared. They [OCA representatives] will come to Jakarta this weekend to check our progress,'€ Ahok told reporters at City Hall on Thursday.

Asia'€™s sports powerhouse China previously hosted the 2008 Olympics and the Asian Games in 1990 and 2010. The country has also been appointed host for the 2022 Asian Games and the Winter Olympics.

Last year, Indonesia was chosen to host the 2018 games after Vietnam retracted its bid. The event was originally scheduled to take place in 2019, but was pushed forward to 2018 because of a presidential election scheduled for the following year. The games are now slated to be held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, 2018, with the opening ceremony to be staged in Jakarta and closing ceremony in Palembang.

Jakarta will host 29 events out of a total of 37 sports disciplines to be featured in the 18th edition of the quadrennial multisport event, while Palembang is to host 11 events. West Java and Banten will provide supporting venues to host five and nine events respectively. The distribution of the events, however, is subject to change.

Ahok said his administration had prepared all designs for the renovation of venues that will be used in the Asian Games and was currently calling for tenders to begin construction.

'€œWe have all our venue designs prepared. We will present them to the OCA this weekend and we will show them that we can prepare quickly. Hopefully it can reassure them that we are able to host the games,'€ he said.

Ahok pointed out that the city administration was still waiting for the State Secretariat to hand over an 11-hectare plot of land in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, in order to begin construction of an athlete'€™s village to accommodate athletes and officials participating in the games. Lawmakers at the House of Representatives Commission II overseeing regional autonomy previously rejected the handover, as it was an asset of the state.

'€œThis situation is a bit worrisome for us. Hopefully the State Secretariat and the Vice President [Jusuf Kalla] can lobby the lawmakers,'€ Ahok said.

Sports observer Fritz N. Simanjuntak criticized Indonesia'€™s lack of preparations to host the Asian Games.

'€œIt has been more than one year since Indonesia was chosen to host the 2018 Asian Games, yet there is hardly any significant progress, especially in Jakarta. If Indonesia does not quickly make progress, I doubt it can host the games,'€ he said.

He added that as the main host, Jakarta should instead focus on providing world class sports halls for athletes instead of merely renovating.

Newly inaugurated KOI chairman Erick Thohir said that the city administration must prepare mock-ups of all the venues, which he said was a requirement from the OCA to report on the city'€™s progress to host the games.

As chairman of the KOI, by default Erick is also the chief organizer of the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee as stipulated in Presidential Decree No. 12/2015.

'€œAll venues for the Asian Games should be ready in 2017 because there will be a preliminary competition called the Asian Youth Games to test our preparedness. Venues for at least nine events should be ready for the Asian Youth Games,'€ said Erick, a business tycoon who also owns a number of sports clubs, including Italy'€™s FC Inter Milan.

Indonesia first hosted the second largest multisport event in 1962.
___________________________________

To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.

For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com

 

{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.