Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Launching Ceremony of Papua Football Academy, Lukas Enembe Stadium, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, August 31, 2022
Journalist
Mr. President, Papua province has been designated as a sport province, and today we have a launching ceremony of the Football Academy. What are your remarks for Papuan people given sports is one of the very important aspects for the health of Papuan people?
President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
First, facilities used in the 20th National Games (PON) should continue to be well maintained because we have international standard facilities. The facilities must be properly utilized. Second, Papua has many talents in sports, so we designate Papua as a sport province not only for football, but also for athletics, rowing and other sports. The training will be available for young participants. The participants at the Papua Football Academy will commence their training at the age of 12 and 13, before joining [the National Team] U-14, U-16, and U-19, and becoming the best football players at the national and global levels. The training must start from the early age and the athletes must also complete their formal education, because that is also important. We have qualified coaches and advanced training facilities that will support the measures to accomplish the achievement and I believe that, God willing, we will achieve our goals.
Journalist
What are the long term goals, sir?
President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
We will see the result in the future. We will see how many of them will be selected to U-14 program. We will also see how many of them will be selected to U-19 program and become the best national football players. We hope that we will have players like Rully Nere, Yohanes Auri, Alexander Pulalo, Boaz Solossa or younger players like Ramai Rumakiek, Ricky Kambuaya. All of them will be able to catch up with their seniors and have much better quality because of the training. The [senior players] have talents but now we have the training program.
Journalist
Regarding the proliferation of three regions in Papua province, there are pros and cons in the public. What’s your take on that?
President of the Republic of Indonesia (Joko Widodo)
We made the policy because the Government pays attention to the grassroots aspiration. I have visited Merauke and Pegunungan Tengah regions and many people came to me asking for [the establishment of new regions]. That happened seven years ago, six years ago, five years ago, and we have made the follow-up gradually. We have aspirations from the grassroots, from the people living here. The policy is in the context of equitable development, because the land of Papua is too large to be divided into two provinces. To facilitate the people and to provide services, new autonomous regions are established. Once again, it is based on the grassroots aspirations. Pros and cons are common in democracy.
(RI/MUR)