Jokowi's Sadness Witnessed The SBY Era Mangkrak Hambalang Project

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his staff visited the Hambalang Project which stalled on March 18, 2016. (Twitter/@jokowi)

JAKARTA - Megaproject Hambalang was once referred to as the foundation of national sports. The development of education centers, training, and sports facilities is projected to be like the house of an outstanding athlete printer. The results are quite contradictory.

Instead of lifting the achievements of national athletes, the Hambalang Project actually stalled due to corruption in a series of elite political elections in the 2000s era. Even the image of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) government has been tarnished. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) also expressed his sadness.

The desire of the Indonesian government to advance national sports is second to none. Various tactics are perpetuated. This desire is based so that national athletes' achievements can be raised. As a result, existing athletes can make Indonesia proud at world-class sports events.

The Directorate General of Sports under the Ministry of Education and Culture took a stand in 2003. They want to build a training education center and large-scale sports facilities in Bukit Hambalang, Bogor, West Java.

This wish was not easy. The government at that time was constrained by land acquisition. The Hambalang project was hampered because a total of 32 hectares had not all been released. Everything changed when President SBY took over the government from 2004.

His staff did not want the Hambalang project to not run and be disturbed. Moreover, Hambalang is considered an Indonesian controversy to produce outstanding athletes. The Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora), Andi Mallarangeng took a stand.

He tried to take over the project and expand his coverage in 2009. The name of the project was changed to the National Sports School Education and Training Center (P3SON). The project budget swelled. From Rp125 billion to Rp2.5 trillion. It is hoped that Hambalang can be transformed into the most complete sports training center.

The circulation of large money in fact did not bring benefits, but was disadvantaged. The big funds spent only opened the tap of corruption among officials from the SBY administration. There were also many irregularities accompanying the Hambalang project in 2011.

Those who are suspects of corruption have emerged from the Democratic Party, which incidentally is the incumbent party. Among others, Menpora Andi Mallarangeng, the former treasurer of the Democratic Party, Nazaruddin, to the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Anas Urbaningrum.

Eggles are not only found in the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Technical recommendations for building construction are also not initialized by the Minister of Public Works, Djoko Kirmanto. Technical recommendations are only signed by director-level officials at the Ministry of Public Works.

The oddity was only discovered by the Ministry after the multi-year contract of the Hambalang project was approved. If one of these requirements is not fulfilled, the multi-year contract should be rejected. However, Agus Martowardojo (Minister of Finance) has never received a report regarding a number of shortcomings in the application for a multi-year contract budget," explained Hermien Y. Kleiden in Agus Martowardojo's book: Carrier of Change (2019).

The corruption circle in Hambalang has become like a ulcer of the SBY government. This condition was not immediately forgotten by all Indonesian people, even though the SBY government had ended. However, SBY often throws criticism because the government continues to build infrastructure, even though economic conditions are sluggish.

The criticism was loudly rolled out by SBY who was perpetuating the Tour de Java in 2016. As an aspiration for a new government, he said. The criticism was then widely interpreted by the public as an attack on Jokowi. In fact, criticism is a form of aspiration.

No one thought that after the criticism, Jokowi actually perpetuated a sudden visit to the stalled Hambalang Project. Jokowi's arrival to Hambalang took place on March 18, 2016. Jokowi was not alone.

The number one Indonesian person brought along the Minister of Youth and Sports, Imam Nahrawi and the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono. He looked around how projects that took large funds were neglected due to corruption.

"Sad to see the state's assets in the Hambalang project stalled. Full of logs. It must be saved Jkw," Jokowi explained on his Twitter account @jokowi, March 18, 2016.

Jokowi admitted that he was sad to see Hambalang who was neglected. Even though if the Hambalang Project is really finished, surely the quality of national athletes will increase. Jokowi did not want the Hambalang project to continue to be neglected. He asked his staff to be evaluated.

Jokowi hopes that Hambalang's construction can be continued. Even though the desire was not serious, it was worked on to this day. The public also considered the visit to Hambalang as a counter-attack on SBY's criticism. Alias, Jokowi's strategy to visit Hambalang was no less a way to silence the previous rulers' noise than an evaluation event.

"Blusukan is not just talking about Pak SBY's legacy, but also his construction which was stopped because of many corruption cases from there involving Democratic Party figures. Hitting, sarcastic (even) occurred between SBY and Megawati. SBY said what was in Megawati, SBY replied, like poco-poco. Go one step ahead, step back," said political observer, M. Qodari as quoted by Kompas.com page, March 19, 2016.