By: Abner Wanggai) *
XX National Sports Week (PON) is coming. The public is also urged to continue to support the event and fight hoaxes and provocative content about PON Papua.
The National Sports Week is a big event that must be supported and welcomed with joy, the existence of this event is not only aimed at finding new seeds for national-scale athletes, but is also a form of pride for the host who is entrusted with holding this multi-branch event.
In planning the PON to be held in Papua, apparently it is not immune from the hoax issue. This appeared a day after the meeting of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, KONI and representatives of Papua, appeared a leaflet containing 15 sports that were cut from PON, namely dancing, water skiing, gateball, petanque, woodball, chess, bridge, kempo, wushu, handball, football takraw. , soft tennis, aerosport, bicycle and aquatic racing.
Not only the name of the sport, it turned out that a letter with KONI letterhead of Papua Province was circulating regarding the change in the number of sports for the XX PON which was planned to be held in 2020. The letter was addressed to the Governor of Papua, Lukas Enembe, that based on the Central KONI letter Number 24 of 2019 regarding the determination of sports, match numbers and quota for XX PON athletes in 2020, which originally amounted to 47 sports to be reduced to 35 sports.
However, this was denied by Kapisa as Kadispora Papua, because at that time there was no official statement or letter from the Papua government regarding changes or reduction in sports.
But in fact, the football takraw sport that was rumored to be not contested, apparently has entered the list of sports that are being contested, located in Jayapura City which is the cluster that organizes the most sports.
It is recorded that there will be 6,484 athletes from all over Indonesia who will participate in the XX Papua PON. Then, a total of 37 sports, 56 sports disciplines, and 679 number of matches / competitions.
On different occasions, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Zainudin Amali, is optimistic that the XX PON will run smoothly.
Menpora Zainudin also stated that PON was postponed in 2021 due to the pandemic, where the Covid-19 situation made it difficult to access equipment and supplies to Papua.
In addition, he also explained that in terms of health, the contingent with the conditions and situation of Covid-19, all trainings that were centered in the regions or the regional training were stopped and now participants are doing independent exercises to maintain fitness.
With various considerations, according to the Menpora, the President made the decision to postpone the implementation of the XX PON in October 2021. Zainudin also said that the 1 year delay was ideal, both for preparing infrastructure, venues and lodging places as well as for contingent preparation and procurement of equipment.
This decision was welcomed by the Deputy Governor representing the provincial government, where previously the Governor of Papua had sent a letter on April 7, 2020 to the President conveying the conditions in the field.
With the PON XX event, the venues are built magnificently, the construction of these venues is expected not only for the PON event, but also can be used by the Papuan people as a sports arena for the community, so that one day talented athletes from the land of Cenderawasih will be born.
President Joko Widodo had reminded that PON in Papua is not just a sports competition. But PON is a common arena to celebrate diversity, strengthen the spirit of brotherhood and an arena to strengthen unity and integrity. So that in the midst of this pandemic, of course all parties will continue to prepare themselves as well as possible.
PON is very important for Papua Province because it will be an added value for equitable development in Papua, as well as an increase in the community’s economy, because the success of PON is not only limited to successful implementation and achievement.
Assistant for the Economy and People’s Welfare of the Papua Regional Secretary, Muhammad Musa’ad explained that two other aspects that will be highlighted at the XX Papua PON event are tourism and cultural culture.
He said that the Papua provincial government had big ambitions to hold a four-year sporting event that was different from the previous PON-PON.
PON XX Papua should be a momentum to build optimism, even though it is postponed due to the pandemic, but the implementation of PON XX Papua must be supported and ignore all hoax or provocative news related to PON XX.
) * Warganet writer lives in Yogyakarta
