Special  Stamps Issuance

XIV NATIONAL SPORTS WEEK JAKARTA 1996 

National Sports Week (PON) is the national sports festival which is held every four years for all provinces of Indonesia. It was held for the first time in Solo, Central Java in 1948. The first PON was organized by the Indonesian Government in response to the British Government's request that only Indonesian athletes and officials, who used Dutch passports, could enter England to participate in the XIV Olympics in London. Indonesia refused to use Dutch passports  and held its own sports game called Pekan Olahraga Nasional (PON). The committee invited foreign diplomats and international press to cover the opening ceremony in order to show the world that the Republic of Indonesia had become independent.

PON has continued to develop and grow. On the first occasion only a few regions of Java participated in the games, competing in 9 categories for 42 gold medals. However, in subsequent PON's, other provinces outside Java have taken part. Since 1977, all 27 provinces of Indonesia have participated in the games. The categories have also increased to approximately 35  sports events.

The XIV PON will be held in Jakarta from 9-20 September 1996, with 5,049 athletes competing in 35 sports categories for 502 gold and silver medals and 592 bronze medals. To mark this sport event, the Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications will issue a series of stamps, printed in gutter-pair sheets, depicting three sport categories that have never been featured on the stamps before namely basketball, hockey nd softball, with Pos Indonesia also issuing a first day cover.