Although There Is No Certainty Regarding The Disbursement Of The Budget, KONI Ensures That Papua PON Preparations Continue

Illustration - West Papua parachuting athletes continue to practice honing their skills with the target of being the overall champion at XX Papua PON. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Central KONI Marciano Norman ensured that preparations for the Papua National Sports Week (PON) would continue despite threats from the Jayapura and Mimika regional governments.

After a coordination meeting with the Minister of Youth and Sports Zainudin Amali at the Kemenpora Office, Jakarta, Tuesday, Marciano said that the city of Jayapura had started to resume preparations, and communication with Mimika Regent Eltinus Omaleng continued.

“I have come to Papua and resolved this problem. For the City of Jayapura, we have followed the directions," Marciano said at a virtual press conference, Tuesday, as reported by Antara.

“For Mimika, we have spoken with the regent. We have listened to his wishes, and we have communicated the problems that arose during the meeting with PB PON, and God willing, everything will go back to normal," he added.

Marciano explained that the root cause of the refusal to host the Papua PON was the uncertainty of the disbursement of the PB PON budget.

According to him, Sub PB PON in the four clusters has not yet received clarity regarding the budget from PB PON, while local governments have poured a lot of funds for infrastructure development and venues for the national multi-event party matches.

“There is a debate over budget issues that have not been matched. The Mimika Regency budget will be supported later, but the stages are waiting for the flow from the APBD and APBN. However, we listened to the complaint and submitted it to the Ministry of Youth and Sports," said Marciano.

Furthermore, the former Head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) ensures that problems related to the budget will be resolved soon so that the preparation of the Papua PON remains optimal.

“The success of PON Papua is not only the pride of Papua, but the Indonesian people. So we have an interest in solving these problems so that it doesn't complicate things," concluded Marciano.

Mimika Regent Eltinus Omaleng on Tuesday emphasized that his party will stop all preparations for the Papua PON until the PB PON provides certainty regarding the budget for the four-year sports festival.

Mimika Regency has proposed a budget of around Rp. 500 billion to Rp. 700 billion, but only Rp. 78 billion has been realized.

"We will move again after there is information on how many rights have been obtained or given to Mimika Regency, whether it is in accordance with Mimika's needs or not. As long as that is not there, all activities will be stopped," said Eltinus in Timika.