Indonesia to give lucrative bonus for best performers

IT certainly pays to be a top-performing Indonesian athlete.

In an effort to boost the Indonesian contingent’s morale ahead of the Philippines SEA Games, the government has set aside a whopping 8bil rupiah (RM2.38mil) bonus for the best performers.

An individual gold medal winner is set to pocket a staggering 200mil rupiah (RM59,400) – and that’s nearly three times more than the RM20,000 a Malaysian athlete will receive for the same feat under National Sports Council (NSC) incentive scheme Shakam.

And that’s not all.

While the Malaysian silver and bronze medallists are not entitled to any payout, the Indonesian runner-up and third place finishers will land not-too-shabby sums of 100mil rupiah (RM29,700) and 60mil rupiah (RM17,800) respectively.

As for the athletes competing as a pair, they will share a cash bonus of 160mil rupiah (RM47,600), 80mil rupiah (RM23,700) and 60mil rupiah (RM17,800) for gold, silver and bronze respectively.

A team comprising more than three members will receive 100mil rupiah (RM29,700), 50mil rupiah (RM14,850) and 30mil rupiah (RM8,900).

It is not the first time that Indonesia has come out with a handsome reward for their national athletes.

At last year’s Asian Games in Indonesia, the government offered 1.5bil rupiah (RM446,000) for gold, 500mil rupiah (RM149,000) for silver and 250mil rupiah (RM74,200) for bronze.

The Indonesian contingent are determined to improve on their dismal 38 gold medal haul, which placed them fifth overall at the Kuala Lumpur Games two years ago.

Indonesia are sending a 1,297-strong contingent, including 837 athletes to the Philippines.

They have set a 45-gold medal target this time.