Awaiting Proof of Alleged Corruption in the Chaotic PON XXI Aceh - North Sumatra

President Joko Widodo opened the XXI PON at the Harapan Bangsa Stadium, Banda Aceh, Monday (9/9/2024). (X/@jokowi)

JAKARTA The XXI National Sports Week (PON) in Aceh and North Sumatra (North Sumatra) is in the spotlight. Unfortunately, the public's attention is not focused on the achievements of national athletes, but on organizing the chaotic XXI PON.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the XXI PON which was held at the Harapan Bangsa Stadium, Monday (9/9/2024). A total of 39 contingents participated in the national audience, with details of 38 provinces in Indonesia and one other originating from the State Capital (IKN) Nusantara.

In total, there are 12,919 athletes who appear in PON XXI Aceh-North Sumatra 2024. A total of 6,625 athletes are placed in North Sumatra and 6,294 in the Aceh region. There are 67 sports that will be competed, 34 of which will be competed in North Sumatra while Aceh will compete in 33 sports.

But unfortunately, in the midst of the excitement of the XXI PON, netizens were presented with unfavorable news. Starting from the condition of several venues that are considered unfit, to the point of food for athletes who are modest. Allegations of misappropriation of PON funds also broke out.

The Minister of Sports (Menpora) Dito Ariotedjo denied any allegations of corruption in the implementation of the Aceh and North Sumatra PONs. He immediately coordinated with law enforcement officials in response to public complaints.

"It was my response that I did not accept after the direct opening, we were beaten through social media, in netizens using only a few sample examples, immediately massively said that the implementation of this PON was corruption. I am defending us that there is already a governance task force. This should not be directly accused of misappropriation, corruption," concluded Dito during a press conference in Medan.

For the first time, this multi-event sporting event in Indonesia was held in two places, Aceh and North Sumatra. After opening on September 9, this four-year event lasted for 12 days until September 20, 2024. However, since the start of the 2024 PON earlier last week, social media has been enlivened more by negative reporting, both from Aceh and North Sumatra. One of them is about venue infrastructure which is far from ready.

Access to the indoor volleyball building at the Sport Center of North Sumatra looks muddy, not paved. Not to mention the presence of heavy equipment that is quite annoying. As a result, this has an impact on the stamina and concentration of athletes because apart from being dusty, the venue is also quite noisy due to the sound of heavy equipment engines.

Virta Rianti, captain of the East Kalimantan women's indoor volleyball team, said that his colleague had a cold and was hot because of an uncomfortable place to compete. Not to mention other problems experienced by a number of athletes, namely regarding accommodation and logistics.

The food provided by the committee for athletes and officials is considered inappropriate and spread on social media. (X)

The food given to athletes is considered inappropriate, and is not in accordance with the budget. Several athletes even claimed to have received stale food, as experienced by the women's taekwondo athlete from Central Java, Saleha Fitriana.

Another case related to allegations of corruption is the issue of the honorarium for the XXI PON in Medan. The committee initially promised an honorarium per day of Rp. 400 thousand, but when the realization of the volunteers only received a daily fee of Rp. 150 thousand. It is still deducted by a tax of five percent.

Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the Central Kalimantan Contingent Secretariat for the Aceh Region, Agusta, had to protest and object to the committee because food for athletes and officials was late so that they were starving. Unfortunately, despite the delay protests, this is still happening and this, said Mikhawa, is very disturbing for athletes to get the best results.

"Until now, the delay is still happening. However, because we didn't expect it, we had anticipated it by preparing consumption privately," said Mikha.

Videos of athlete complaints from various contingents have gone viral on social media and have caused strong criticism. In fact, according to a number of sources, the budget disbursed reached IDR 50,900 per serving, while snacks were budgeted IDR 18,900 per serving. The budget for meals during the XXI PON event was IDR 30.8 billion, and snacks reached IDR 11.4 billion. In total, the budget for eating and snacks for PON 2024 athletes reached IDR 42 billion.

In the midst of the chaos in the implementation of PON XXI North Sumatra and Aceh, allegations of corruption have also emerged. Launching the Ministry of Finance website, the government disbursed a budget of up to IDR 811 billion, the source of which was from the state budget. The funds are used to build and renovate 18 sports infrastructure units in Aceh.

According to data Aceh.id, the Rp811 billion budget for the Aceh-North PON is the smallest figure compared to the previous four editions. In the 2020 PON Papua, the government disbursed Rp10.4 trillion, which was the highest figure in the same period. West Java and Riau PON received Rp3.1 trillion each, while East Kalimantan received Rp4.5 trillion.

But apart from funds from the government, the Ministry of Youth and Sports also supplied Rp516 billion for the PON committee. This consists of match funds of Rp72 billion and Rp74 billion for Aceh and North Sumatra respectively. Not to mention Rp30 billion for the needs of the committee, supervisory, judges, and legalities.

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony in Aceh was budgeted at IDR 60 billion, the opening ceremony in North Sumatra was IDR 41 billion. The remaining budget was also disbursed for match facilities in Aceh of IDR 138 billion and in North Sumatra of IDR 101 billion.

One thing that is in the spotlight is the food and snacks provided by the committee for athletes who are deemed not to be in accordance with the budget. Whereas the ceiling is Rp. 50,900 per serving for the main meal and Rp. 18,900 for snacks is stated in the Order Letter of the Labor Unit of the Sign of the Agreement for the Consumption Sector Number 03/SP/2024 dated August 21, 2024, which was signed by the Head of the PB PON XXI Consumption Division of the Aceh Region, Diaz Furqon.

Seeing the confusion that occurred during the XXI PON, the Coordinator of Anti-Corruption for the Transparency Society of Aceh (MaTA) Alfian suspected that there was an inflated value in the procurement of athlete consumption. In addition, he also suspects that there is a conspiracy in determining the consumption vendor. Based on this finding, Alfian plans to report the alleged corruption to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"We traced it to athletes when they received food and snacks based on complaints via social media. If we suspect, in the auction process there is a potential game," said Alfian.