If the PON 2020 is postponed, the Budget will be Diverted for Covid-19 Handling

If the PON 2020 is postponed, the Budget will be Diverted for Covid-19 Handling

Papua House Speaker Jhony Banua Rouw supports the proposal to delay the implementation of the XX PON 2020 in Papua, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He is of the view, the handling of the corona pandemic that is being experienced by nearly 200 countries, takes a long time.

"I have said, according to our analysis, that the PON will definitely be delayed. The results of the meeting of the House of Representatives Commission X with the Menpora have been decided to be postponed. Just waiting for the presidential decree," said Jhony, Wednesday (4/22/2020).

To deal with the corona pandemic, a lot of budget is needed and the re-budgeting and refocusing of the local budget must be done. One source of funds that is quite large and can be diverted to handle Corona is the implementation of the PON 2020 budget.

"We strongly agree that the PON is postponed because with this (pandemic corona) problem we need a lot of costs and nationally we will be cut 20 percent," he said.

"We should save these funds to help handle Covid-19 in Papua. We return the money to regencies / cities to help people deal with Covid-19. It will be far better than we used to prepare for PON," continued Jhony.

Regarding the discourse on postponing PON XX until October 2021, he thought it was the right thing, because at that time Papua could be better prepared. Reported earlier, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe mentioned the budget requirement to hold a PON 2020 of Rp 4 trillion. However, some of the budget can only be realized after the 2020 budget change is set.

"The activities in PB PON must be rationalized. Do not want to be proposed by the fields because the funding needs from the beginning we already knew Rp 4 trillion, but we want to cover Rp 2 trillion in funds from the 2020 budget change," said Lukas.

The House of Representatives Commission X and the Ministry of Youth and Sports agreed to postpone the implementation of the XX National Sports Week (PON) 2020 in Papua, which was planned to be held 20 October to 2 November 2020. The agreement was decided in a working meeting between Commission X and Menpora Zainudin Amali.

"We agreed, the PON was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic," said Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission X Syaiful Huda in a written statement, Wednesday (4/15/2020).

However, through a video conference on Wednesday afternoon, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Zainudin Amali, ensured PON 2020 had not been postponed, because it was still awaiting a decision from President Joko Widodo.