Foreign Minister Sugiono Vice President Prabowo Attends The Peak Of IPSI's 77th Anniversary

JAKARTA - Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Sugiono, who serves as Deputy Chairperson of PB IPSI, representing Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto as General Chair of PB IPSI, attended the peak of PB IPSI's 77th Anniversary commemoration in Jakarta, Saturday.

Sugiono, when giving his speech, continued President Prabowo's apology for not being able to attend the peak of the commemoration of the 77th Anniversary of the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (PB IPSI) at the Padepokan Pencak Silat Indonesia TMII, Jakarta, this afternoon.

"I also want to apologize from the General Chairperson of PB IPSI, who is also the President of the Republic of Indonesia who on this afternoon could not attend with us, because there are other tasks that he must attend," said Sugiono when giving a speech in front of thousands of warriors and pencak silat athletes from various universities in Indonesia.

Sugiono then said that PB IPSI must be heartened when the general chairman does not attend important IPSI events, including the peak of today's 77th anniversary commemoration.

"We are both heartened because as students, we have donated IPSI's best cadres to lead this country and gave him (President Prabowo, ed.) the opportunity to carry out these duties and mandates as well as possible," continued Sugiono.

At the peak of PB IPSI's 77th Anniversary commemoration, approximately 7,000 fighters from various universities attended the Indonesian Pencak Silat Warrior National Apple Towards the Olympics.

Sugiono, in his remarks, emphasized that pencak silat in 2019 had been recognized by UNESCO as a cultural heritage no different from the world.

"This is an extraordinary achievement for our beloved nation and country," said Sugiono.

He said that the next PB IPSI target was to bring pencak silat into a sport that was competed in the Olympics.

"We hope that in 2028 which will come in Los Angeles, United States, pencak silat can attend as an exhibition, and in 2032 in Brisbane, Australia, pencak silat can be competed as an Olympic sport," said Deputy PB IPSI.

Therefore, Sugiono hopes that pencak silat in the future will be more grounded, and will also be more acceptable to the world audience.

At the peak of the commemoration of PB IPSI's 77th Anniversary, the Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora) Dito Ariotedjo was also present to give his direction in front of the management and thousands of pencak silat fighters.

At the same location, there was also the General Chair of the Central Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) Lt. Gen. TNI Retired. Marciano Norman.