MEDIA DISAPPOINTED WITH ARRANGEMENTS FOR SEA GAMES OPENING

FROM AINUL HUDA MOHAMED SAAID PALEMBANG, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- Media personnel covering the 26th SEA Games here are disappointed with the Games secretariat's decision to allow only five media members, excluding television stations, of each participating country into the main stadium here for the opening ceremony Friday. Because of this, about 2,000 journalists and photographers will have to cover the event from the main media centre located about one kilometre from the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium at the Jakabaring Sports Complex. The lack of items such as tables, chairs and power plugs at the centre, where members of the press can be seen working on the floor, is also a letdown. A Thai journalist said the quota of five tickets for each country was insufficient as there were 10 media outlets from his country alone. "The quota is inapproriate for the SEA Games level. I've covered two SEA Games but this kind of thing has never happened before," he told Bernama. He expressed the hope that the organisers would solve the problem soon and eliminate such a quota for the closing ceremony on November 22. -- BERNAMA