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It was 26 years ago today that National Sports Day was instituted to boost sports development in the country.

Former President Suharto started it while inaugurating Sriwedari Stadium in Solo, Central Java, but the quarter-century since its founding has seen Indonesia slip from its place as the dominant sporting force in Southeast Asia.

Contenders such as Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam have overhauled Indonesia atop the region, a fact spelled out at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, when the country finished fourth in the medal table. In the Olympics, only badminton has produced gold medals, with archery and weight lifting providing some medals.

One of the problems continually cited for Indonesia’s regression is the failure of the country’s youth development programs. The inaugural Asian Youth Games in July provided insight into those failures, with Indonesia finishing 21st out of 43 countries and only winning bronze through I Gede Eka Agustiawan and Ade Chandra Rachmawan in boys’ beach volleyball.

“It’s so embarrassing for a big country like Indonesia,” Indonesia Olympic Council (KOI) official Djoko Pramono said.

He said the slide happened because Indonesia neglected its young athletes’ development for so long. KOI only started worrying about the youngsters’ future when it had a hard time in selecting athletes for the Games.

Djoko said it was time for stakeholders to focus on junior development while still supporting the veterans.

“Let’s start all over again. We can get great results years from now if we nurture those young athletes in the right manner,” said Djoko, who has been involved in national sports development for two decades.

Also under the spotlight are the sports management practices in Indonesia.

National basketball team player Denny Sumargo harkened back to the country’s golden era of the 1970s.

“We were a dominant force in Southeast Asia, we defeated the Philippines. In Asia, people used to dub Indonesia ‘Macan Asia’ [‘Asia’s Tiger’] for our achievements in sports,” Denny said. “Now we’re only ‘Macan Ompong’ [‘Toothless Tiger’].”

The Garuda Bandung shooting guard also said the disjointed, haphazard sports development policy and bad management brought Indonesia down from its once lofty perch. He called upon the country’s leaders for a sustainable development program.

“It only happens if all stakeholders, especially the government and KOI, sit together and talk about the development program intensely,” he said.

However, Denny is still optimistic Indonesia can return to its salad days in the future.

“We have lots of potential athletes. We just need all stakeholders to support each other,” he said. “We should use National Sports Day for momentum to start over again.”