Sports expert Tandiyo Rahayu of Semarang State University said she saw a positive point about forming a special body to focus on managing the country’s sports.

Prior to Imam being named a suspect in the case, it was rumored that the ministry would be dissolved in the upcoming Cabinet and a new agency would be formed.

“If the rumor is true, I personally agree with the plan to form the National Sports Body. I think it will be better for the development of Indonesian sports,” Tandiyo told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. “It will be even better to fill the body with professionals in sports who have the knowledge for building national sports, instead of hiring politicians. It is better to keep [the body] away from political interests.”

Expert Djoko Pekik Irianto, who heads the Yogyakarta branch of the National Sports Council (KONI), voiced his concern over Imam’s case, while maintaining the presumption of innocence.

Despite having two former ministers involved in criminal cases, however, Djoko said the country still needed the Youth and Sports Ministry, with a credible figure to manage the country’s sports. “Things that need to be fixed are the implementation [of regulations] and a commitment from the figure [appointed as minister],” he told the Post.

Djoko said the ministry was still needed as the country was preparing for important sporting events, including the SEA Games in the Philippines in November and December, as well as the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

“We have a heavy task in the future such as the 2019 SEA Games, the [2020] National Games and Tokyo Olympics in 2020, as well as the 2032 Olympic bid,” he said.

“The ministry is still important, it would be even better if the ministry was separated between youth affairs and sports, so it could focus on sports,” he added.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced Imam’s legal status on Wednesday. The antigraft body named Imam and his assistant Miftahul Ulum as suspects in the bribery case involving KONI secretary-general Ending Fuad Hamidy and treasurer Johny F. Awuy. Imam allegedly accepted Rp 14.7 billion (US$1.04 million) in bribes through Miftahul during the period of 2014 to 2018. Imam also allegedly asked for an additional Rp 11.8 billion between 2016 and 2018, adding up to a total of Rp 26.5 billion.

The case was first uncovered when the KPK arrested nine people, including the ministry’s undersecretary Mulyana, who oversees sports achievement, Ending, Johny, ministry officials Adhi Purnomo and Eko Triyanto on Dec. 18, 2018 in relation to a grant from the ministry to KONI.

Imam is the second sports minister after Andi Alfian Mallarangeng, who was a minister in former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Cabinet, to be implicated in a bribery case. Andi was convicted for his role in the high-profile graft case in 2012 relating to the construction of the Hambalang sports complex in Sentul, Bogor, West Java.

KONI chief Marciano Norman responded that the ministry needed a better mechanism for channeling funding to the council.

“We can no longer apply the grant mechanism,” he said.

Imam had submitted his resignation letter to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in person on Thursday. Jokowi said he respected the legal process, adding that he was still considering whether to appoint an acting minister or find Imam’s replacement.

Imam, who is also a National Awakening Party (PKB) politician, bade farewell to his staff in the ministry’s office.

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