Jokowi Affirms Government Will Evaluate Aceh XXI-North PON

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) (Doc: State Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that the government will evaluate the XXI Aceh National Sports Week (PON)-North Sumatra. This was after the viral video of food that was deemed unfit and nutritious to the referee.

Jokowi said that the organizers of major activities such as PON XXI Aceh-North Sumatra must need correction and improvement.

"Checked at the committee. Later ask the Menpora. Everything related to government activities is always evaluated if there is a correction, it will be corrected for future improvements," said Jokowi at the Central Jakarta Danareksa Tower, Tuesday, September 17.

"I think in a big event there must be a correction, there must be improvement, for sure. Whether it's a venue problem, a consumption problem, both accommodation, there must be something we need to fix," he continued.

Previously, the Minister of Youth and Sports Dito Ariotedjo had responded to the complaint. Dito said that all the food given to athletes had been evaluated.

Dito revealed that the first time he received a report on the consumption of athletes' food, which was deemed unfit and nutritious, was at the Aceh-North Sumatra PON. Receiving this information, Dito immediately conducted an evaluation. He ensured that currently the quality of food for athletes was better.

"We have submitted a food complaint. Since the evening evaluation in Aceh, the next day it was immediately distributed correctly and the quality improved and for North Sumatra I have also seen directly and also received reports from all chefs of all provinces, the quality of this food has increased," said Dito after conducting an inspection at the indoor volleyball venue in Deli Serdang, last Friday.

Dito also promised to continue to supervise to ensure that the implementation of the PON 21 Aceh-North Sumatra 2024 went well and successfully. Dito admitted that giving food and drinks with a fairly large amount of food three times a day was not easy.

"This will continue to be accelerated in quality, because for North Sumatra alone it's one time to provide more than 20,000 meals. So this is an experience that I think has increased the quality of human resources in North Sumatra, in the future there will be an event of this size ready," he concluded.