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outh and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi lived up to his promises about his commitment to national sports when he took tours of several sports centers just one day after he was officially installed in his office.

He visited five sports centers at which he had chances to talk with sports officials, as well as with athletes. 'What we need today is to give them spirit and motivation. We hope our visit can give them spirit. We forge solidarity, at least. When we talk as brothers, we will talk openly. This openness is necessary for us,' Imam told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview at his office.

'From several sports centers I visited, I have learned about self-management in funding, like in the case of the PBSI [Indonesian Badminton Association]. They are not too dependent on government funding sources.

'We have to continue to encourage them to be financially self-managed. We encourage as many stakeholders to get involved in funding as possible,' he said.

Utut Adianto, a chess star-turned-lawmaker, had previously said that funding was one of the issues the new minister would have to tackle.

He said that sport's portion of funding from the national budget was too meager for all sports to depend on for their development programs.

'The task left with the minister is how we can advance our sports with that limited financial source,' he told the Post on a separate occasion.

'For sports to become self-managed financially, they must be given access to sponsorship,' said the politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).

Utut also pointed out that sub-standard coaching and legitimacy disputes between the National Sports Council (KONI) and the Indonesia Olympic Committee (KOI) must become priorities for the minister to solve.

When confronted about the issues, the minister said they were on his agenda. 'Let's wait. Keep cool. Now we watch, listen and experience to gather input that we will use as our strategic resources within five years,' he said.

Hopes abound that the minister can inspire a revival of national sports in the wake of dismal performances at recent multi-sport events.

At the 2013 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Indonesia, which was once the dominant force in medal collection, could only finish in fourth place among 11 countries. In September this year, the red-and-white team brought home only four gold, five silver and 11 bronze medals from the Asian Games in Incheon to end up in 17th position among 45 countries in Asia.

The failure to meet the medal target in Incheon was coupled with discouraging news later that the athletes had been distracted during their preparations for the games by a stalled reimbursement of government funding that was allocated for training equipment.

'We have looked into the case and we will ensure that will never happen again,' Imam said.

Looking ahead, Iman hoped all sports stakeholders would be involved with the next mission to be in Singapore, the host of the 2015 SEA Games.

'We want all to get involved, including KONI, KOI and the sports organizations. The government is ready to issue the presidential guidance. Hopefully, we can be champions again. Even for the Olympics, the President has told me to prepare as best as possible,' he said.

The next Olympics will be in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Two years later, Indonesia will host the 18th Asian Games.