Roy Suryo Officially Appointed as Minister of Youth and Sports in History Today, January 11, 2013

Roy Suryo who served as Minister of Youth and Sports in 2013-2014. (ANTARA)

KARTA - History today, 13 years ago, January 11, 2013, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) appointed Roy Suryo as the new Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora). The appointment was made because Roy Suryo was considered able to improve the Ministry of Youth and Sports and improve national sports achievements.

Previously, the Hambalang project corruption case was a disgrace to the ruling party: the Democratic Party. The corruption dragged a number of politicians including the Minister of Sports, Andi Mallarangeng. As a result, the post of Minister of Sports was then vacant and needed to be replaced.

No one wants national sports achievements to increase. This narrative makes the government think about increasing the capacity of the nation's pride athletes. Later the government also began to think about steps to make national athletes develop rapidly.

This condition made the Directorate General of Sports under the Ministry of Youth and Sports take a stance. They then wanted to present a training and education center, and a large-scale sports facility in Bukit Hambalang, Bogor, West Java.

The initiation came in 2003. Then, the plan was only worked on seriously in the era of President SBY. The project was then taken over by the Ministry of Youth and Sports itself under the authority of Andi Mallarangeng. The result is that the project, which was originally planned with a budget of Rp. 125 billion, became Rp. 2.5 trillion in 2009.

Democratic Party politician Roy Suryo attends the 17th anniversary of the Democratic Party on September 9, 2018. (ANTARA FOTO/Rivan Awal Lingga)

The project was then named the National Sports School Education and Training Center (P3SON). Or the public often calls it the Hambalang project. The large fund is considered to be able to make a super complete sports facility.

The problem is that hope is just hope. Instead of large funds being able to make the development of the Hambalang project run smoothly, the funds that exist are actually a container for corruption by Democratic politicians. Andi who is the Minister of Sports and Youth then was dragged.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) considers one of the culprits of the Hambalang fund corruption. As a result, Andi became a KPK suspect. Andi immediately submitted his resignation from the post of Minister of Sports due to his legal process on December 7, 2012.

"Regarding the announcement of the KPK's determination of my suspension yesterday, December 6, I have met with the President and submitted my resignation letter. With this suspension, I will not be able to effectively carry out my duties," said Andi as quoted by the kompas.com page, December 7, 2012.

Hambalang's corruption made the image of the Ministry of Youth and Sports bad. All Indonesian people also hope that the government will immediately fix it. The SBY government also moved quickly to find a replacement for Andi. They want the Ministry of Youth and Sports to be quickly fixed.

The candidate for Minister of Sports is also busy. However, SBY actually chose Roy Suryo, who is a Democrat cadre, as the new Minister of Sports on January 11, 2013. The appointment of Roy Suryo is considered to be able to fix all kinds of problems in the Ministry of Sports. He was asked to improve the achievements of national sports.

"There are three things that are of concern, namely the internal improvement of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the achievements of sports that we must continue to maintain and the resolution of the dualism of management in sports branches," said Roy as quoted by the ANTARA website, January 11, 2013.

Democratic party officials consider Roy to be the right choice. Roy is seen as able to lead the Ministry of Youth and Sports well. However, the response of the Indonesian people is actually many counterarguments. They consider Roy's election unwise. Roy is considered to have no experience in sports.

The government considered the wind itself as a criticism of Roy. This condition made Roy Suryo still appointed as Minister of Youth and Sports. He was also immediately officially inaugurated as Minister of Youth and Sports by SBY at the State Palace on January 15, 2013.