DPR Highlights Marut Marut XXI PON, Must Be Searched For Who Is Responsible!

Photo: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr

JAKARTA - The implementation of the XXI National Sports Week (PON) in Aceh-North Sumatra has drawn a lot of criticism, one of which is due to infrastructure unpreparedness. Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives asked the Government to immediately make improvements in the near future so as not to interfere with the concentration of athletes who are still competing.

"The government must immediately make improvements in a short time so as not to interfere with the athlete's concentration in the remaining time of the match. A fundamental question is whether the preparations are correct like this?" said Member of Commission X DPR RI Andreas Hugo Pareria, Thursday, September 12.

The unpreparedness of infrastructure in PON XXI can be seen from the upload of an athlete who has gone viral on social media. In the upload, it can be seen that athletes have to go through a muddy road to the venue. According to Andreas, this is proof of the Government's unpreparedness in the implementation of this PON.

"Even though the state budget spent is not small for PON events," he said.

In addition to infrastructure, athletes also complain a lot about the food problems presented by the organizing committee. Starting from the portion and variant of the menu, to the stale food.

Seeing this, Andreas is sad and questions the responsibility of the event organizers, especially the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Even though PON is a prestigious national level event that brings together the best Indonesian athletes.

"We are currently trying to attract the nation's best athletes, but instead the facilities are chaotic. How Indonesian athletes can balance other countries if the government itself has not properly treated the athletes," Andreas said.

"The Ministry of Youth and Sports must be more serious in increasing supervision of the implementation of PON, especially in terms of infrastructure so that the needs of athletes and official teams are guaranteed, including in terms of their health and safety," he continued.

Andreas also mentioned the alleged misappropriation of funds carried out by the person in charge of the event, causing various problems in the implementation of the PON. This is also related to findings about the venue or location of the match whose construction has not been completed.

"We hope that the PON Task Force created by the Government in collaboration with law enforcement agencies can also ensure that there are parties responsible for the messy implementation of PON," said Andreas.

Members of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) who focused on supervision in the field of sports were also furious at the behavior of the individuals suspected of misappropriation. According to Andreas, the person in charge should have thought about the comfort of athletes, not even making personal benefits.

"The government must make paradigm changes in the way of organizing national events. It is not enough to only target the success of events on paper, but there must also be awareness that every element in the event, from infrastructure to the comfort of athletes, is part of the nation's image and reputation," he explained.

For only venue rehabilitation, PON XXI 2024 in Aceh-North Sumatra is known to have spent a budget of approximately IDR 811 billion. However, with such a large budget, the construction and renovation of the venue is considered not according to standards.

"It should be for major events such as PON, the Government can ensure that all facilities provided meet appropriate standards, and are ready to face challenges without unsatisfactory reasons," said Andreas.

"That's why we regret it so much, with such a large budget but it turns out that the implementation of PON is still in disarray," added the legislator from the NTT I electoral district,

Furthermore, Andreas encouraged BPK RI to conduct an audit of the alleged misappropriation of PON funds. Moreover, there are many complaints from athletes regarding the delay in giving pocket money. Even though the disbursement of the athlete's pocket money should have been done before leaving to compete, so many athletes are forced to bear the travel costs of personal funds.

This complaint came from various regional contingents and athletes from a number of XXI Aceh-North PON sports. In fact, several athletes who have finished the match at PON and returned to their area, have not received the promised pocket money.

"This is very bad. This pocket money is important, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports should facilitate it by encouraging local governments through the relevant agencies to prioritize giving pocket money to athletes who are fighting for their regions," Andreas said.

The government is also expected to immediately evaluate the mistakes that exist in PON such as food matters. This food issue is a recurring problem, according to Andreas, the organizing committee should be able to anticipate.

"This problem actually repeats itself at every big national event like this, the government should have made adjustments from the start to learn from previous mistakes," he said.

Andreas emphasized that the Government must be responsible for various problems in PON. This is because PON is an event to produce leading athletes who will compete in the international arena for the good name of Indonesia.

"We just achieved athletes in Olympic competitions and were praised, but when we were in the country we didn't even get proper facilities and treatment," Andreas concluded.