Youth and Sports Ministry secretary Gatot S. Dewabroto said recently that state-owned and private entities had begun to show interest in funding sports federations because of the country’s success at the Asian Games and Asian Para Games.

“There are many business entities that have shown interest in supporting sports federations. The problem is their lack of trust,” Gatot said, referring to a case in which state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom Indonesia provided funding for the Indonesian Cycling Association (ISSI) for a training program in 2015.

Telkom had disbursed around Rp 1 billion (US$676,732) to the federation via the National Sports Council (KONI), but it turned out that the federation only received around Rp 300 million. It is unclear where the remaining Rp 700 million went.

“Due to the case, each state-owned firm, each of which previously stated its readiness to support sports development in the country, had withdrawn from the program,” Gatot said, adding that, as a result, it was difficult to rebuild trust.

The practice of financial partnership between sports federations and corporations is commonly referred to as bapak asuh (foster father), which means an entity is financially responsible for the wellbeing of a federation, mainly by providing a proper training program for its athletes.

“Now, we begin to regain their trust again, and it is up to us to use it wisely,” Gatot said.

Several federations, such as the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) and the Indonesia Athletics Federation (PASI), utilize the bapak asuh approach. The PBSI is backed by cigarette company Djarum, while PASI is under the leadership and patronage of business tycoon Bob Hasan, who was the industry and trade minister under president Soeharto.

Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) sports development head Ari Hidrijantoro said that, to support training programs, a sports federation should be led by a financially steady individual.

“We have run a training program since 2015 — with or without the government’s support,” Ari said.

The PGI is currently led by property mogul and PGI chief Murdaya Po, who is running for another term as PGI head for the 2018-2022 period.

In chess, Kristianus Liem of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) said, to keep its sports development program alive, Percasi was dependent on several entities.

Instead of holding on to one entity exclusively, Kristianus said Percasi had been striking deals with many sponsors, including diversified agricultural firm PT Japfa Comfeed Indonesia, to hold various regular tournaments, both at the national and international levels.

To support the country’s sports, the Youth and Sports Ministry planned to cooperate with the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry.

Financial partnerships and sponsorships are vital for the livelihood of athletes and sports federations as the sports ministry allocated only Rp 500 billion of the total Rp 1.9 trillion in the 2019 budget for sports development programs.