MINISTRY STRIVING TO MAKE 1,000 OUTSTANDING ATHLETES CIVIL SERVANTS

Parigi, Central Sulawesi, March 17 (ANTARA) - Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Adhyaksa Dault said his office was continuing its efforts to get 1,000 athletes or former athletes with significant achievements inducted by the government as civil servants.

"We have been implementing this program since 2006 and will do so over the next few years," the miniser said in his address at the first corner-stone laying of a representative sports complex on the southern outskirts of Parigi town on Monday.
Besides, athletes and former athletes with outstanding records would also be given bonuses in the form of houses, he said. "This is all being done as a token of the United Indonesia government's appreication to those who have made great contribitions to the state and nation's progressm," Dault said.
He said the criteria of high athletic achievement to qualify for promotion to become civil servants and receiving a house were among others emerging as the best in such sports events as the National Sports Week (PON), the SEA Games, Asian Games or Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Parimo District Chief Longki Djanggola said the new sports complex in Parigi would stand on 20 hectares of land at Jono Kalora village, and be completed five years from now at a total estimated cost of Rp 90 billion.
The complex would include a football stadium, a track and field arena, a tennis court, a basket ball field, a swimming pool, a recreation pool (for children), a fitness center, an athletss club and a National Sports Committee (KONI) office.