No great expectations<\/p>\n
Bruce Emond, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The sports year is scheduled to get off to a blazing start in
\nJanuary when the A1 motor racing competition stops by Sentul,
\nBogor.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, it will go off with a roar and not a sputter: There
\nhave been questions about the preparedness of the circuit to host
\nthe championships -- a rival to F1 featuring 24 teams
\nrepresenting different nations -- on Jan. 15.<\/p>\n
The push is on to get the circuit ready in time, with local
\nrider Ananda Mikola set to take his place on the grid.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's old dependable is badminton, the sport where the
\ncountry's athletes can be counted on to uphold national pride on
\nthe world stage. Singles player Taufik Hidayat and mixed doubles
\npair Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto will defend their world
\ncrowns in September in Madrid, while the national men's and
\nwomen's teams compete in the Thomas and Uber Cups in Sendai,
\nJapan, in April.<\/p>\n
But the rest of 2006, if this past year is any indication,
\nlooks bleak for national sports. The year 2005 was a troubled
\none, the euphoria from the passage of the long-awaited law on
\nsports quashed by the country's disastrous showing in the
\nSoutheast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines in December.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, the champion in the overall medal standings nine
\ntimes since it made its debut in the regional multisport event in
\n1977, stumbled to a fifth place finish -- its worst ever -- in
\nthe 11-nation Games. No longer was the country simply second best
\nto powerhouse Thailand, but now it was a decided also-ran.<\/p>\n
Of course, the blame game began as soon as it became clear
\nIndonesia was headed for disaster, with a host of reasons offered
\nfor the failure.<\/p>\n
From budget deficiencies to poor coaching and inefficient
\ntalent scouting -- the excuses all sound familiar to anybody who
\nhas been around the national sports scene in recent years,
\nbeginning with the early warning sign of the country's third-
\nplace finish at the SEA Games in 1999.<\/p>\n
It's also clear that Indonesia's reversal of fortunes in the
\nsports arena did not happen overnight; some have put it down to
\ninertia, complacency and a lack of thorough planning over the
\nyears when Indonesia did rule the region.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the process of picking up the pieces, of turning
\nnational sports around from an also-ran in the region to a force
\nto be reckoned with, will not happen in a matter of months.<\/p>\n
The National Sports Council (KONI) has made a start with the
\nIndonesia Awakens elite training program for 11 sports in the
\nrunup to next year's Asian Games and the 2008 Olympics.<\/p>\n
Athletes from two of the designated sports, cycling and
\nkarate, were outstanding at the SEA Games, and KONI has promised
\nto expand the program to other sports.<\/p>\n
Another issue to tackle is national coaching, with coaches
\nlagging behind their peers in the region for knowledge and
\nexpertise and with no standardized coaching system nationwide.<\/p>\n
SEA Games chef de mission and KONI deputy chairman Djoko
\nPramono said some coaches -- many of them former athletes who
\nwere forced to put their sports careers before education in their
\nyouth -- found it difficult to improve their skills, particularly
\nwith poor English comprehension and little technological savvy in
\nthe Internet era.<\/p>\n
There was an encouraging sign in the middle of the year when
\nthe Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) moved to set up
\nspecial coaching instruction program after many of its coaches
\nfailed a regional accreditation test.<\/p>\n
Vision Asia -- the project of the Asian Football Confederation
\nfor more professionally run soccer within the region -- will make
\nits debut in the country next year with pilot projects in Bandung
\nand Yogyakarta. It will be a tough task to confront the
\nentrenched old boys' network and infighting that has
\ncharacterized Indonesian soccer for many years, and effect more
\nthan cosmetic changes.<\/p>\n
Next year will also be the first for the sports law to be
\nimplemented after it was passed by the House in September.<\/p>\n
Consisting of 24 chapters with 92 articles, and covering
\nsports institutions, funding, sports management, the government's
\nand public's share of responsibility in sports activities as well
\nas doping and its punishment, the law should be used as the
\nstimulus for change.<\/p>\n
However, a presidential instruction is required to flesh out
\nthe details of the reward system, and the office of the sports
\nministry conducted a familiarization tour to introduce the law in
\nmajor cities in December.<\/p>\n
For badminton great Susy Susanti, it is simply a promising
\nstart, with the government needing to step up to bat with
\nconcrete measures.<\/p>\n
"Don't make promises, give us the proof," the 1992 Olympic
\nwomen's singles gold medalist, four-time All England winner and
\n1993 world champion told The Jakarta Post in August.<\/p>\n
She noted that many bills passed into law were worth nothing
\nmore than the paper they were printed on amid a lack of
\nimplementation.<\/p>\n
"If there is no implementation, then what is the law meant
\nfor? I wouldn't allow my children to become athletes," said the
\n34-year-old mother of two.<\/p>\n
This year provided some hard and sobering lessons for
\nIndonesian sports. By the time the Asian Games start in Doha next
\nDecember, let's hope national sports -- having learned its lesson
\nand working with vision and planning -- will be on the road to
\nrecovery from all that ails it.<\/p>\n
The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-great-expectations-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }