SANUR, Indonesia (AFP) — While other countries in Asia have hosted major multi-sport events over the past 40 years, Indonesia, despite its sprawling size, has been left in the wilderness.
Since it held the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, it has been routinely overlooked, largely due to its poor sports infrastructure, lack of organisational skills and security issues.
All this makes the Asian Beach Games, which were officially opened in Bali Saturday evening, critically important not only to Indonesia’s future hopes of holding more high-profile events, but to how the country is viewed.
“The nation’s image is at stake,” said the Jakarta Post in an editorial.
“Any harm done, whether in the form of poor infrastructure or lax security, will cancel out the work of the organisers and government in their bid to show the world that our nation is well-qualified for hosting a major sports event.”
Security is tight with organisers worried about any incident that could frighten off tourists, just as the island recovers from the deadly bombings in 2002 and 2005.
More than 200 people were killed in the first attack with the economy hitting the skids and tourists fleeing. Another 20 died in the 2005 explosions.
It was largely due to those tragedies that the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) handed the inaugural Games to Bali without a bidding process.
“The member countries felt that these Games would demonstrate the mutual support among Asian countries that Indonesia has emerged from this tragedy,” said Beach Games organising committee director Rita Subowo.
How Bali copes with hosting the event is being closely monitored by the OCA, whose president Shiekh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah is attending, along with International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge.
Hour-long queues at immigration on arrival at Denpasar airport, poor organisation at accreditation centres and limited facilities at venues have not done Bali any favours so far, nor have sparse crowds.
Subowo knows what is at stake.
“We have to admit that we lack many things. But because this is the first event, Indonesia cannot compare it with previous Games,” she said.
“If we fail as host this time, it will be difficult to get a second chance. The hosting capabilities of Indonesia are being evaluated by the participants.”
It’s been a tough fight to get this far with the global financial meltdown rearing its ugly head at the wrong time.
The Games was always going to struggle and organisers have had to scramble to find financing, with a central government injection of 50 billion rupiah (five million dollars) last week saving the day.
But they are not out of the woods yet with much of the money promised but not yet received.
“Thank God the 50 billion rupiah finally came through from the government, although about 20 billion has not yet been realized,” said Subowo.
Some 60 percent of funding was now coming from Jakarta, with the rest from sponsorship and donations.
Around 3,000 athletes from 45 countries are taking part, pitting their wits in 17 sports.
They include: beach handball, kabbadi, pencak silat, sepaktakraw, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, body building, dragon boat racing, jet skis, marathon swimming, paragliding, sailing, surfing, triathlon, windsurfing, and woodball.
Source: http://afp.google.com/
October 20th, 2008
Two East Java Men Tricked into Tattooing their Faces in Effort to Gain Coveted Civil Service Job.
Some people are irretrievably gullible. Unfortunately, in the case of two men from Bojonegoro, East Java, proof of their gullibility is now permanently written all over their faces.
The two men, Bambang (40) and Nanang (30), were recently offered the highly prized opportunity to become civil servants by the Chief of the village of Mulyaoagoang who approached the two men with an urgent offer, which at the time, seemed too good to refuse.
The village chief, Sawiyono, had received several frantic telephone calls and short-message-service (SMS) from a man, who identified himself as a ranking Bojonegoro Regency official, urgently seeking suitable candidates for sought-after government posts in the local tourism department. According to the caller, those sought for work as intelligence officers had to meet two important job specifications: they must be tall in height and prepared to have their faces heavily tattooed.
Why tattooed faces? The argument offered was that those employed as intelligence officers are required to shield their true identities which, the caller insisted, would happen if the candidates camouflaged their facial features.
Sawiyono told authorities that when first called on his hand phone he spoke with a certain Mr. Kasumi, who convincingly claimed to be a First Assistant of the Bojonegoro Administration and completely empowered to recruit new government employees.
Hook, Line and Sinker
Sawiyono became increasingly convinced of the bona fides of the recruitment offer over the course of repeated phone calls, coming rapid fire at a frequency of every 5-10 minutes, asking if suitable candidates had already been identified for the much-coveted government postings.
In a panic to please a superior and play a “bridging” role in an important recruitment, Sawiyono contacted Bambang and Nanang and persuaded them to follow him to a local tattoo parlor. At the tattoo parlor the two men readily submitted themselves to permanent disfigurement believing their next stop was a life-long position in local government.
Claiming he may have been acting under some sort of hypnotic spell, Sawiyono told Kompas that it was only after the two men’s faces were extensively tattooed that he paused to wonder if he should have perhaps checked directly with the subject official in Bojonegoro to verify the job offer and the recruitment conditions. Finally, after a few additional phone calls, Sawiyono’s worst fears were confirmed. The job offer was fraudulent and the source of the telephone offers could not be traced.
What followed was undoubtedly the most awkward part for Sawiyono, telling the freshly tattooed Bambang and Nanang that the promise of a job was bogus and their “new look” was largely permanent.
Bambang, when contacted by NusaBali, revealed that he was a simple farmer with no real ambition to become a civil servant. But, when the offer came along, he decided to jump at the opportunity at a better life and agreed to submit to the tattoo process as instructed by Sawiyono. He told the press he could only cry when he reflects on his permanent scarring that has now made him a subject of community ridicule.
Sawiyono is now the object of a criminal investigation by police and has pledged to accept full responsibility for the medical procedures now underway to eliminate the facial tattoos of the two men.
Source: http://www.balidiscovery.com
October 20th, 2008