Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Commemoration of National Sports Day (Haornas) XXXVII 2020 (Through Video Conference) Wednesday, 9 September 2020 at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java Province

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. 

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Good evening,

Peace and prosperity be upon us all,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of vitue.

Sports greetings!

Distinguished Ministers of Indonesia Onward Cabinet,

Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI),

Honorable Chairperson and Members of State Institutions attending,

Honorable Commander of the Indonesian National Defence Forces (TNI), Chief of the Indonesian National Police, Attorney General, the Governors throughout Indonesia, the National Sports Council (KONI), the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), the Indonesian Community Sports Federation (Formi), the National Paralympic Committee (NPC), athletes and sports figures who are at Cibubur and at the Palace, in buildings across the country,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Various national and international sports competitions must be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not good for our sports world. However, this condition provides an opportunity for all of us to reboot, to restart, to massively re-devise our national sports ecosystem. In this commemoration of National Sports Day, I urge all of you, sports people to seriously reflect, make evaluation, and prepare big steps to take big leaps for the advancement of the world of sports..

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sports play a very important role in human life, be it as an individual as well as in a society and a nation. First, sports play an important role in education. Sports are not only for physical education and physical strengthening but for character education as well. Sports build characters of discipline and sportsmanship that being a winner or loser is a common thing; build characters of a warrior and a hard worker; strengthen the character of collaboration in teamwork; and even strengthen the spirit of patriotism and nationalism.

Second, doing exercises can increase productivity. It is impossible for productivity to be increased without good health condition of its citizens. Sports should become a daily routine for community members; become daily life for employees; become a daily routine for all personnel at government offices, companies, and various other organizations. Therefore, sports are not only a matter of any individual nor Ministry of Youth and Sports but a matter of all. Sports must be supported by good infrastructure, culture and lifestyle, technology, and good management.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sports can serve as a booster to drive the economy as Minister of Youth and Sports said earlier. The sports industry has a very broad scope, starting from the event industry, the clothing industry, shoe industry, football industry, and others. Sports also involve media and broadcasting industries or even industry for souveniers, trophies, stickers, and others, which can involve our MSMEs to multinational giant companies. The target market is not only the local people, not only the national market but also the global market.

Sports opens up great opportunities for Indonesia to develop sports tourism. Sports tourism has become a new tourism trend with a very large market, which will provide a multiplier effect on people’s economic activities. We have potential beautiful places for the development of sport tourism, ranging from mountains, seas, and lakes, which in addition to being beautiful in nature, the places are also rich in arts and culture. These places can be utilized for various sporting events, such as gliding, diving, cycling, athletics, and other recreational sports.

The opportunity to develop sports tourism is getting bigger after the pandemic. People will prefer to exercise and travel in open spaces. We must make the best use of this opportunity for Indonesia and its beautiful nature.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lastly, I urge Minister of Youth and Sports, the National Sports Council (KONI), and the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) to improve national sports achievements. If our sports achievements are still not good enough, it probably means that we have not used the right method. We have to carry out a total review. a total review of national sports achievements and athlete coaching management is necessary. I call for a total review of athlete coaching management. Do design well-synergized management for athlete development at central and regional levels, at general educational institutions and sports educational institutions. Do increase the synergy between sports organizations and Ministry of Youth and Sports.

We must also make the best use of the latest science and technology. The utilization does not only aim at developing science-based training centers but also aims at developing better new management. Develop an information system and data analytics that can identify qualified athlete candidates. Remember that our population is more than 267 million people and it is dominated by young people. It makes no sense if we lack talented athletes, we must have millions of young people who are talented. If we lack candidates, it is definitely caused by wrong management, not the talent. Therefore, the athlete coaching system, once again, must be totally reviewed.

I urge Minister of Youth and Sports to invite all relevant parties to massively redesign the athlete coaching system and to report the results to me immediately. Once again, as a big country we should have big names in international sports competitions. We have had big names in several sports at the international level, and we still have big names.

On this auspicious occasion, I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to athletes across the country who have struggled to raise the Red and White flag and to reverberate the national anthem Indonesia Raya, and those who have made Indonesia proud in international arenas. Ladies and Gentlemen, your accomplishments are always engraved in the history of Indonesian sports.

I think that concludes my remarks. Happy National Sports Day. Make sports as part of a healthy lifestyle. Healthy society makes a strong country. By saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, we start a new spirit of sports for our country, an advanced Indonesia.

Thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om,

Namo Buddhaya.

Translated by Syarifah Aisyah
Reviewed by Yuyu Mulyani