Archery now free from politics

By Arif Suryobuwono

JAKARTA (JP): The international archery body, FITA, can learn a lot to assist it in the effort to rid sports of political barriers from the diplomatic row which preceded the 38th World Archery Championships.

FITA President James L. Easton is such a fast learner that he has made certain that the body's member countries will be welcomed at the next world championships in 1997.

"The next world championships will be held in Victoria, Canada. All member associations are welcomed," Easton said at the closing ceremony of the championships, shrugging off the cynical laughter of some foreign officials.

Jakarta, which hosted the event from Aug. 1 to Aug. 6, did not welcome all of the body's 105 member countries. Restrictions were imposed on Israel, leaving it with no choice but to opt out of the championships. Indonesia has never recognized the existence of Israel as a state.

"We will, from now on, require bidders (for hosting world championships) to submit a written agreement from their respective governments to ensure that equal treatment without any restrictions be given to all members," Easton told The Jakarta Post about a change in bidding procedures, which resulted from FITA's two-day congress which ended here on Tuesday.

The restrictions imposed required that the Israeli team sign an agreement not to display its country's name, flag, anthem, or any other national attributes.

The Israeli team members would have been recognized as tourists instead of their country's representatives, or as athletes who competed as individuals.

"No less than 16 or 17 countries have filed official protests to us. Twelve of them have protested in the form of a petition," the 60-year-old president told the Post about the reactions to the diplomatic barriers.

"We're very disappointed. Indonesia does not recognize our principle of treating all members equally," Easton said. He, however, was not willing to blame the Indonesian Archery Association (Perpani).

"It's not Perpani's fault. It's your government's and we have no control of your government," he said. "We will not take action against Perpani. After all, Perpani has done a good job (in organizing the championships)."

Inconsistent

This controversy centered on the application of a 1988 decree issued by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, which bars countries with which Indonesia has no diplomatic ties from displaying their national identity, except the country's name, while taking part in sports events hosted by Indonesia.

The fact that Israel was not allowed to use its name and that Portugal, with which Indonesia also has no diplomatic ties, was allowed to fully display its national identity just like any other country, showed inconsistency in applying the decree.

"The (political) nuance is different," Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman told the Post.

A good relationship with Portugal would accelerate the settlement of the East Timor dispute, Hayono explained. Lisbon severed diplomatic ties with Indonesia following the 1976 integration of East Timor.

"As for Israel, we have to treat them like that because we must remain sensitive to the feelings of the Moslems. Besides, we could not guarantee their safety if they insisted on coming," Hayono said. Anti-Zionist sentiment prompted some influential Islamic groups here to react with "absolutely no" to Israel's participation in the championships.

"Thus, the application of the decree is situational and hence, flexible," Hayono commented on the inconsistency. He added that the decree "will be revised gradually".

The decree was originally intended to bar Indonesian athletes from competing against South Africa, which still embraced apartheid policies at the time.

Another factor which may explain the inconsistency was that Perpani did not seem to be fully aware that there was such a decree in the first place.

"What? A decree regulating what? What does it say?" former Perpani chairman Haposan Panggabean, who made the bid to hold the archery competition five years ago, asked the Post when told about the diplomatic repercussions of the event. "The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports gave full support to our bid," he recalled.

"I am sure Perpani knew about the decree and had thought of everything before submitting the bid," Hayono said.

"But the benefits of hosting the championships outweighed the possible disadvantages. That's why we decided to go on with the bid," he added.

The benefits, according to Hayono, include the acceptance of the President Soeharto Cup as a substitute for the original FITA trophy, which went missing during World War II.

Compound

The just concluded championships also saw the compound bow division make its debut.

Easton hinted that in eight years' time FITA may ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to adopt the new division among the Olympic medal events.

The division shoots with a bow using pulleys and cables to make the holding weight less than half the draw weight. The archers also may use sights with optical enhancements and a mechanical device to actually release the bowstring. Due to this advanced equipment, this division is usually the most accurate.

"The use of the compound bow in Asian countries, of which most of our member countries are made up, is not yet as popular as in America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. That's why, I think, we will have to wait for about eight years until it becomes popular among all the member countries," he said.

Because the IOC plans a reduction in the number of sports events contested at the Olympic Games, FITA may suggest that the existing 64 places for each gender in the recurve bow division which the Games offer be reduced by half.

"The other 32 places can thus be given for each gender in the compound bow division without increasing the number of events," says Easton, who is the first FITA officer to be elected to membership in the IOC.

The stars in the compound division in the just finished championships were Americans. They included 13-year-old world champion Angela Moscarelli and Michelle Ragsdale, a nurse who set a new world record of 1,329 in the individual qualification round.