25 Years of Sports Reform
Sports constitute a means of construction of national identity, so the success of athletes in the international arena can have affects on national unification and bringing about national pride.
The celebration of 25 years’ reform serves as a reflection on the progress of national sports.
Coinciding with this anniversary, Indonesia succeeded in breaking the target of medals gained in the international multi-event arena, with 89 gold medals at SEA Games 2023 in Cambodia, the greatest achievement since the political reform was launched in 1998.
Based on the record of Indonesia’s participation in Southeast Asian sports competitions in the post-New Order period from 1999 to 2019, the average gain of gold medals was 60 and the position has always been among the big five. SEA Games 2023 practically offered a gift in this year’s reform commemoration.
25 years’ sports reform
In the early Reform Era, the domain of sports did not receive sufficiently significant attention, so it was subject to various dynamics.
Organizations of branches of sports were busy with internal dynamics bearing political nuances, even being subjected to sanctions by international organizations. Athlete member building also faced impediments. Corruption related to sports also came under the spotlight.
Nearly all Indonesia’s favorite sports like badminton and football showed no significant achievements. This is not to mention the issue of unpaid coaches or athletes, posing a problem of their own. At least in the post-New Order period, various sports issues always filled news coverage as well as mass media narrations.
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All of these seem to give a picture of how sports achievements were faced with various drawbacks, but there were also overwhelming prospects.
Various potentialities backing the survival of sports turned into their own phenomena, such as the successful Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, as a sports arena as well as entertainment, which triggered a change in or reform of national sports.
Press freedom in the early Reform Era offered space for the media industry to produce different kinds of information, including sports as a lifestyle and hobby.
Sports as a hobby were increasingly popular in society, as evident in the early 2000s with the appearance of magazines of lifestyle sports like Golf, Kebugaran (Fitness) and Balap Mobil/Motor (Car/Motorcyle Race). The polarization of hobby-based sports information led to the birth and growth of national sports industrialization and provided economic revenue opportunities for the private sector and the state.
The implementation of the assumption was enabled by Law No.3/2005 on the National Sports System and Regulation of the Sports Minister No.10/2015 on the Promotion and Development of the National Sports Industry.
Sports industrialization has become the main jargon of the government in boosting tourism management and promotion with a touch of sports. The term sports tourism has also been the state’s jargon in organizing national and international events.
Sports have become a commodity for business players to scoop up big enough profits. Through the rules in this Reform Era, sports events are allowed quite a significant portion and form part of the ecosystem of sports industrialization.
Collaboration between the state and the private sector in sports industrial development is supported by various regulations, promotion efforts and infrastructure.
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The three factors have mutual influence in creating euphoria and making the atmosphere of sports events more popular in society while producing a promising economic value.
On the other hand, competition arenas specifically based on branches of sports have also been participated in by local and young athletes. They have frequently emerged as national athletes with international achievements, such as Agus Prayogo and Odekta Naibaho in the marathon race.
They previously joined many national and local running races in several cities, especially recreational running events involving the public at large. This industrialization phenomenon has indirectly grown into a sports business ecosystem, an arena for national athletes’ higher achievements and sports popularization.
Sports regulation and challenges
The birth of Presidential Regulation No.86/2021 on the Master Design of National Sports (DBON) offers an opportunity and hope for the enhancement of sports achievements.
The DBON constitutes a national sports promotion and development policy. It is a sports regulation that systematically defines the vision and mission of sports promotion over a long term of up to 2045.
Indirectly, the DBON is the peak of national sports rules throughout the Reform Era because it contains a road map starting from the building phase (2021-2024), consolidation phase (2025-2029), development phase (2030-2034) and stabilization phase (2035-2039) to the sustainability phase (2040-2045).
It is a sports regulation that systematically defines the vision and mission of sports promotion over a long term of up to 2045.
The phasing process is a form of vision highly significant to athletes and also the target of national sports achievements. However, the DBON and its phases are certainly facing various challenges and quite a number of barriers may have to be overcome.
Broadly speaking, the challenges of DBON implementation concern its realization at regional and local levels because these are the birth places of athletes with the potential for making achievements in the future.
Moreover, the DBON stipulates the combination of technology and science in the promotion of achievement-based sports. This also needs clarity in its implementation because the science of national sports education has different characteristics.
Every university with sports education certainly has a distinctive perspective and this will have a considerable impact on the pattern of athletes’ promotion in the field. Sports educational institutions have their respective methods of applying their sports scientific patterns.
The implementation challenges should be jointly solved by relevant levels of administration, from national to local policy stakeholders so that no constraints will later be faced and the road map of the DBON will be realized according to its target.
Sports achievements’ future
With the sports industrialization phenomenon and the national sports road map in this Reform Era, the optimism for the revitalization of national athletes’ achievements at the global level can come true. Yet big challenges will be encountered by the next national leaders to assume their rule later, especially in terms of their political will and policy implementation.
For the writer, the sports industrialization phenomenon should become a joint ecosystem with a pattern of pursuit of athletes having achievement potential at all levels, from local to national. Collaboration and synergy between the government, the sports industry, executives of sports branches, from national to local, and athletes should be in harmony with the spirit of transparency and professionalism.
Sports constitute a means of construction of national identity.
The athletes’ achievements at SEA Games 2023 in Cambodia with the most medals gained during the Reform Era serves as a reflection for all sports stakeholders that a change and maturity of the sports reform have been effective.
It is a matter of how to maintain and strengthen the position of present and future achievements. This is because according to Barrie Houlihan (1997), sports constitute a means of construction of national identity, so the success of athletes in the international arena can have affects on national unification, augmentation of the state’s reputation, enhancement of citizens’ commitment and bringing about national pride.
Mesitra Budiasa
Meistra Budiasa, Director of the Bung Karno Center for Sports Communication Studies, lecturer of Communication Science at Bung Karno University, Central Jakarta
This article was translated by Aris Prawira.
