Gov't Committed to Development of E-Sports
Jakarta. The government has expressed its commitment to assist with the development of e-sports in Indonesia, to have a positive impact on the economy and improve the performance of the country's athletes.
"We are starting to issue regulations to support [e-sports development], including education and more. What's also important, is [for us] to support e-sports events and tournaments," Gatot Dewa Broto, a spokesman for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, said on Tuesday.
"We are relatively late compared with other countries. Our participation in e-sports has only been in the last or two years," Gatot said during a discussion titled "Building E-sports Ecosystems" held by the sports ministry, Presidential Staff Office, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf).
Gatot said the ministry would continue to educate the public and raise awareness of e-sports, which have similar values and principles as other sports. Indonesian athletes earned one gold and one silver medal in e-sports events during last year's Asian Games, hosted by Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra.
Although e-sports were only a demonstration event during the games and did not count towards Indonesia's final medal tally, the win successfully promoted e-sports as in the country.
"We only started organizing e-sports events and tournaments seven years ago, while other countries have been at it for 15 years. We cannot continue to be left behind," Gatot said.
A major government initiative to promote the development of e-sports in Indonesia was the hosting of the first E-Sports President's Cup in March this year. The national championship was positively received by various stakeholders in Indonesia. Gatot said the championship would take place again next year.
According to Gary Ongko Putera, founder and chief executive of e-sports organization BOOM ID, Indonesia is one of the world's largest e-sports markets. However, he said the country's potential has not being maximized, but expressed hope that the government would continue to make the right regulations to develop a healthy and competitive e-sports environment in Indonesia.
"Our e-sports athletes have great potential to compete at an international level. We need to support this, and we must realize that e-sports present us with an opportunity to succeed," he said.
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