Menpora Says Sport Has An Important Role In Strengthening National Character

Screenshot of Menpora Zainudin Amali while attending the 9th Merdeka Barat Forum Discussion (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora) Zainudin Amali stated that sport plays an important role in strengthening the nation's character, strengthening unity, diversity, and nationalism.

Launching Antara, Zainudin Amali said that there are a number of important elements in relation to sports to build nationalism and togetherness. First, is discipline.

"An athlete if he is not disciplined will surely be left behind and his coach will expel him. So he tried from the beginning, he was forced to become a daily habit, he has a disciplined character," said Amali in the 9th Merdeka Barat Forum Discussion (FMB9) entitled "PON XX Papua, Build Nationalism and Togetherness" which is rolling virtually, Monday afternoon.

Then the second, said Amali, is the character of hard work. He said that the average of all athletes have this character.

"Next or the third is sportsmanship which is the spirit of sports and then a sense of optimism. None of the athletes say that they are not optimistic," Amali added.

Amali takes the example of Indonesian athletes with disabilities who have won nine medals at the Tokyo Paralympics. According to him, they are very optimistic in showing that there is no difference with non-disabled athletes.

In addition, a character that is no less important in the world of sports is cooperation. "As good as he is, he has good physical, technical and ability, but if he can't work together, then the team will not succeed and will not achieve," he said.

According to Amali, the characters possessed by athletes can strengthen the nation's character, strengthen unity, diversity, and nationalism.

Menpora gave an example during the 2018 Asian Games. At that time, the political temperature in Indonesia was also warm ahead of the 2019 presidential election contestation.

At that time, the martial arts athlete Hanifan Yudani Kusumah, who won the gold medal, managed to unite two presidential candidates on stage, namely Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto.

"So here it shows that sports can unite even if the differences are as sharp as they are," Amali said.

"I hope this will be of concern to all of us. Once again, don't just look at the achievements. But what is produced by coaching from upstream to downstream is the real sport."