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Improve communication, says minister on chaotic Games

Poor coordination at the 2016 National Games in West Java is the main cause of the protests and acts of violence that have marred the quadrennial multi-sport event, a minister has suggested

Dicky Christanto (The Jakarta Post)
Bandung
Sat, September 24, 2016

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Improve communication, says minister on chaotic Games

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oor coordination at the 2016 National Games in West Java is the main cause of the protests and acts of violence that have marred the quadrennial multi-sport event, a minister has suggested.

“[The main concern is] coordination. If all parties just stay focused on doing what they should do, I don’t think we’ll keep experiencing these things,” Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said as quoted by Antara, referring to several incidents in the event that have driven netizens to create the #PONJabarKacau hashtag, belittling the event as “chaotic.”

“[All parties] need to pay attention to how they communicate [their problems],” added Imam, who made the statement after attending a meeting in Bandung to evaluate and discuss the unhappy developments at the 19th edition of the National Games.

Instead of fussing about the manifold flaws and problems of the event, Imam requested all parties to focus on the ideals underpinning the sporting extravaganza.

“Let’s work to groom our athletes for bigger things such as the upcoming 2017 Southeast Asian Games, the 2018 Asian Games and the 2020 Olympics,” he said.

The meeting involved the event’s organizers, stakeholders and authorities, and tried to settle a pile-up of problems including protests over scoring and incidents of violence.

Over the past few days, the media has exposed harsh protests at the event, with some of them turning into boycotts. The media has also covered acts of violence involving, athletes, supporters and security officers.

The judo and karate teams from East Java and Jakarta launched protests over an allegedly unfair scoring system. The two judo teams have decided to boycott the competition. In water polo, a brawl erupted at a swimming pool between athletes from Jakarta and security personnel.

In synchronized swimming, the Jakarta team decided to walk out after swimmer Adela Amanda Nirmala was denied the chance to compete due to age restrictions. Adela is 28, while a regulation limits a participant’s age to 26.

In response, Suwarno, the deputy chief of the National Sports Council (KONI), said Adela’s case had occurred because the contingent from Jakarta had not paid attention to regulations.

The Jakarta team and the event’s organizing committee are reportedly in discussions to settle the dispute.

Meanwhile, in wushu, North Sumatran Rosalina Simanjuntak, initially named a gold medalist in the women’s sanda 52 kg category, was refused a medal following a protest launched by the West Java camp. Later on, the organizers decided to give gold medals to Rosalina and West Java’s Selviah Pertiwi.

Organizer Iwa Karniwa criticized the behavior of the coaches and contingent officials.

“They attracted more negative attention. They didn’t offer any solutions,” he said.

Earlier this week, supporters of the West Java and Jakarta soccer teams were also involved in a brawl.

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