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Freeport drops sponsorship of Persipura Jayapura
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Persipura Jayapura’s Marinus Mariyanto Wanemar (center) celebrates after his team beat Mitra Kukar in their 2017 President’s Cup preseason tournament match at Maguwoharjo Stadium in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Feb. 15. Persipura won 1-0. (Antara/Hendra Nurdiyansyah)
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ne of Indonesia’s favorite soccer clubs, Persipura Jayapura, has been dropped by its former main sponsor, PT Freeport Indonesia, as a result of the ongoing contractual dispute between the mining giant and the government.
“PT Freeport Indonesia has stopped its sponsorship of Persipura. [The company] has sent an official letter on the matter to the club’s management, citing its production suspension as the cause,” Persipura chairman Benhur Tommy Mano told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Losing Freeport as the club’s main sponsor had caused difficulties, added Benhur.
The club has vowed to look for sponsors to keep Persipura up and running in Indonesia’s top league, the Liga 1.
“The worst-case scenario of this might be having to quit the competition,” said Benhur, who is hoping for sponsorship from state-run Pertamina oil and gas company, businessman-cum-politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo of MNC Group or West Papua-based Tangguh LNG, an integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) operation in the country.
“We’re looking at the potential of Hary as he seems to have some interest in becoming a sponsor,” he said.
In the meantime, Pertamina responded by saying that the company had yet to make any decision regarding sponsorship. “Persipura has sent its proposal, but we’ve made no decision so far,” said Pertamina spokesman Taufiqurrahman.
Freeport became Persipura’s main sponsor in 2015 when it handed the club Rp 9 billion (US$674,375) in financial support. In 2016, the miner spent Rp 11 billion in a sponsorship deal with Persipura, five-time winner of Indonesia’s top league.
For this year’s operation, Persipura needs Rp 25 billion to take part of the nation’s top competition.
Freeport Indonesia, the subsidiary of US-based Freeport McMoRan has been in a dispute with the government following the issuance of new regulations that oblige the company to convert its contract of work into a special mining license, divest 51 percent of its shares within a decade of production and build a new smelter. The miner has reportedly laid-off off 1,525 workers since Jan. 12.
