Indonesian Olympic Athletes Association (IOA) head Richard Sambera (with mic) accompanied by several athletes speaks at a press conference on Tuesday (10/10)in response to talks of disbanding the Indonesia Gold Program (Satlak Prima) in Jakarta. The IOA stressed the need for solutions on speedier decision-making and cutting the red tape on disbursing funds for training and try-outs, and not the disbandment of Prima.
The government is going to disband the Satlak Prima, the country’s “go for gold” program, because it is seen to add to the red tape in sports and hamper the fund disbursement to athletes.
The issue on disbanding Satlak Prima began when the performance of Indonesian athletes fell during the recent Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. They could not achieve their target to collect 55 gold medals and to be in the top four ASEAN countries.
Signs of failure were visible long before the games started: the lack of preparation, the unpaid athletes’ allowances, lack of nutritional meals for athletes and the purchase of training equipment, which did not meet standard specifications.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla was disappointed with the SEA Games result. Kalla, who heads the steering committee for the Indonesian Asian Games 2018 Organizing Committee (Inasgoc), wanted to improve the bureaucratic process and services for athletes. However, the sports community doubted his effort.
Moreover, the government has still not organized national sports training two months after the SEA Games. The sports ministry has unpaid debts to several sports divisions. Such doubts were answered with the government’s plan to disband Satlak Prima, because it was considered to add to the sports bureaucracy.
Satlak Prima was a continuation of the Reliable Athletes Program (PAL) introduced in 2008. PAL was setup to provide directives, goals and guidance to the training athletes, to identify the critical areas that need special attention, to set an action plan, to set a criterion of success and to manage resources.
Presidential Regulation No. 15/2016, which revises Presidential Regulation No. 22/2010, stipulates that the Satlak Prima program focuses on preparing national athletes to improve their achievements in Southeast Asian, Asian and international sports competitions.
Some parties argue that it is not correct to blame Satlak Prima for the late disbursement of funds or adding to the bureaucratic chain. Satlak Prima does not control the budget and has no authority in dealing with finances. Some sports executives agree with the plan to disband Satlak Prima, because they do not have athletes, and neither are they focused on preparing top athletes.
Under Article 13 (1) of Law No. 3/2005, the Sports and Youth Minister has the authority to regulate, guide, develop, execute and supervise the organization of national sports. In the case of Satlak Prima, the minister needs to explain the actual reasons for its disbandment and ensure better fund disbursement to the national sports training center.
