We highly laud and thank the athletes for their struggle and hard work as well as the persistence of the coachesJakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially signed Presidential Regulation Number 86 on 2021 on the main design of the National Sports (DBON) at the 38th commemoration of National Sports Day (Haornas) celebrated annually on Sept 9.
On the same occasion, the president also thanked the sports community as well as the public for always supporting the progress in sports in Indonesia.
Jokowi noted that the commemoration of Haornas this year was marked by numerous achievements at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
The president believes that the achievements not only made the nation proud but also inspired it to aim for other glorious successes in future.
"We highly laud and thank the athletes for their struggle and hard work as well as the persistence of the coaches, who have been able to hone the nation's great sports talents. Thus, they can make the nation proud through their achievements," Jokowi stated in a virtual speech on Thursday.
Furthermore, the president called for unified efforts to improve achievements in sports.
He remarked that the achievements were not gained instantaneously, but instead through systematic and sustainable training, from upstream to downstream.
"We must focus on working to produce excellent athletes, who will make Indonesia proud in the international tournaments," Jokowi noted.
With the implementation of DBON, the president was optimistic that Indonesia would be able to compete and deliver more sports achievements.
Hence, he invited all stakeholders to collaborate in creating a more modern sports industry by organizing various healthy and fruitful sports competitions.
"We have to find superior talent early, so they can become the strong foundation for advancing Indonesia in the field of sports," the president stated.
On the same occasion, Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali also noted that the DBON would offer a new ray of hope for Indonesia to improve its sports achievements.
"On the 38th anniversary of Haornas, we have created new history. The government has issued a presidential regulation as an umbrella act for the implementation of DBON," he noted while delivering a speech at the POPKI Sports Hall, Cibubur Village, East Jakarta.
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"It also marks the birth of new hope for Indonesian sports achievements today," he added.
The DBON aligns with President Jokowi’s directive at the 37th anniversary of Haornas last year. On the occasion, he called to conduct a thorough evaluation on the national sports training scheme.
The minister remarked that the DBON will streamline national sports from the upstream to downstream sectors, starting from fostering the athletes to clocking sports achievements at the Olympics and Paralympics level.
He noted that for 76 years since its independence, Indonesia did not have any national sports design, so the athletes were found just by accident so far.
He likened the DBON to a factory to prepare athletes -- from the amateur to the elites. Thus, when senior athletes retired, there would be replacements, and it would be done sustainably.
The DBON has 14 Olympic sports disciplines as its priority: athletics, badminton, rock climbing, artistic gymnastics, weightlifting, bicycle racing, archery, shooting, swimming, rowing, karate, taekwondo, wushu, and pencak silat.
In addition, there are five priority sports for the Paralympics: the para-badminton, para-powerlifting, para-swimming, para-table tennis and para-athletics.
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Translator: Muhammad Ramdan, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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