The Celebration Of State Officials At The Moment Of Athletes' Victory Is High, But Attention To Sports Development Is Rated Low

JAKARTA - Posters congratulating Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu from a number of politicians and officials were scorned by netizens. The image that displays photos of officials bigger than the athletes is considered just a hit with fame. Indeed, it is legal. But unfortunately, the high enthusiasm for celebrating our officials is not directly proportional to their attention to sports development.

The euphoria of Greysia/Apriyani's victory in winning the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has not subsided. The proof, on social media Twitter, we can still see congratulatory posters from a number of politicians whose faces are bigger than athletes we can still see.

One of those who collected posters from officials was the owner of the Twitter account @adriansyahyasin. "Nas has started, guys... Let's gather all the tacky officials in your environment here," he tweeted.

Well, it's already started guys… Let's gather all the tacky officials in your environment here… Here's someone whose head isn't very sincere, please cut off his head https://t.co/OpUGyKTFOR pic.twitter.com/6oZHu7mEf4

— Adriansyah Yasin Sulaeman (@adriansyahyasin) August 2, 2021

The habits of these politicians also invite criticism. Political observer from Al-Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin. He said officials should not only congratulate them, but also help pay attention to athletes when experiencing difficulties.

"Don't just congratulate. But also financially help the winning athlete," said Ujang to VOI.

Ujang said that congratulating him was fine. However, he considered that when the photos of the officials were displayed larger in the congratulatory posters, it meant that they were imaging. "But when the congratulations of the officials are made by making posters and others, whose photos of the officials are larger than those of Greysia and Apriyani, it means that the officials are riding or capitalizing on the victory of Greysia and Apriyani for imaging purposes."

The government's lack of attention to the development of the national sports world was revealed by a senior sports journalist, Ainur Rohman. Let alone the attention to unpopular sports, in the sport of football, which incidentally is the most loved by Indonesians, it is also not given good attention.

The indicators, according to Ainur as quoted by VICE, can be seen from coaching, competitions, provision of coaches, and leagues that have not been managed seriously. "Some of our leagues, especially the lower tiers, are a mess."

Even though football is a sport that receives the state budget to finance the most national sports training centers (pelatnas) throughout 2020, worth IDR 50 billion. Meanwhile, badminton and weightlifting, whose achievements were fairly impressive, were "only" Rp. 18 billion and Rp. 10 billion.

The achievements of the two sports were increasingly evident at the Tokyo Olympics. As of August 2, 2021, weightlifting contributed 1 silver and 2 bronze. Badminton players Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu even just made history at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the gold medal in the women's doubles sector for the first time in the country's history.

Ainur gave an example of the limitations experienced by a weightlifter who went to the Tokyo Olympics, Rahmat Erwin Abdullah. He said Ainur had to practice for years with makeshift facilities in Makassar. "He practices at night using a petromax lamp. It's Olympic caliber, you get bronze, that's how it works."

In general, the government's total budget for sports development in a year is Rp. 2 trillion, said Ainur, too small. He gave an example of China, which budgets Rp140 trillion per year for the development of athletics, swimming, canoeing, and sailing for the sake of the Olympic gold medal. There is no doubt that the Bamboo Curtain Country won the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as of August 5.

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