Asiad: Complacency led to poor performance

Asiad: Complacency led to poor performance

Why did Indonesia show a poor performance in the recent Asiad?
Sports expert Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar attributes it to com
placency. In an interview, this former assistant to the sports
minister, with an illustrious 44-year career, says that sports
activities involve many parties, who should act in unison.

Question: How do you see our performance in the recent Asiad?

Answer: In sports we use straightforward language. We call a
failure, a failure. We failed to start planing as soon as the
1990 Beijing Asian Games were over. At the time, I proposed
concentrating on six sports. It is true that in the span of four
years other sports might emerge too, but there should be a
criterion to measure this.

Q: Has a criterion been set?

A: No. And out of the blue we decided to take part in 23 sport
events in Hiroshima. For example, Kenya only takes part in track
and field in every Olympics and wins three or four golds. Kenyans
can understand it. And we have not discussed other things such as
regeneration of players, or the quality of trainers and coaches.
Will KONI (the National Sports Governing Body) and the Ministry
of Youth Affairs and Sports provide them with books, or send them
for training abroad? What about their remuneration? Why do we pay
US$5,000 to foreign coaches and Rp 300,000 ($150) to local ones?
Their responsibility is the same. I am no hypocrite and I think
coaches should be well paid. And we haven't talked about managing
athletes. They have to be nursed as if they are fighting cocks,
meaning that we need to maintain the quality of their food and
earnings.

Q: It seems that there are so many intermingling factors?

A: There are. We should never underestimate any of them. The
irony is that we are all well aware of this, yet we have failed
to pursue them diligently and have chosen to be complacent. We
are in the dark about the progress of sports in Asia. Only a week
before Hiroshima did we realize that six or seven Asian sports
have reached the world level. Can you imagine it? Haven't we read
the newspaper for four years? What have the research and
development people been doing?

Q: What has gone wrong?

A: My criticism of our sports scientists is that they have
never translated what they have learned in various seminars
abroad into practice. I have one experience. During my days at
PBSI (Badminton Association of Indonesia) I found their proposal
for various tests was questionable. So I devised well-proven
tests myself as a substitute. Isn't it lamentable?

Q: Back to the criterion you mentioned earlier. Do you think
that so far KONI has not been transparent enough on this matter?

A: The criterion should involve things like the ages,
mentality, talent, potential and peak performances of the
athletes combined with a thorough knowledge about their opponents
in order to set up a strategy. A month before Hiroshima we
quarreled about who would be going there instead of discussing
the most important thing: What strategy is to be used? Our
outlook remains traditional, we are not creative enough. This is
disastrous.

Q: How could this happen?

A: Because we felt superior and did not see the need to learn
more. I am well advanced in age and yet I never stop learning.
Sports is a complex mixture of inter-linking activities. Why?
Because responsibility in this field is formidable. It is for the
good name of the nation. Imagine Qatar, a state with only 500,000
people, is better than us. A half million people we can find in
Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. The more painful fact is that we
were behind Malaysia. I couldn't but question the patriotism of
this bunch of sports patrons and prime movers in afterthought.
This is an injustice to PBSI who fought tooth and nail to win the
gold.

Q: Why could PBSI make it?

A: I have said: "Why not learn from PBSI?" Use it as a model.
Copy the good things from PBSI because not everything is rosy in
this association either. I also have said not to let PBSI stay
alone at the top. It will crack because its burden is tremendous.
It can't survive unless it is complemented with other top
performing sports. Without such an environment it will crash. It
has been on the top and is inviting other sports to the top as
well. PBSI has shown how to turn athletes into the best
professional sportsmen in the world. It is a fact. The momentum
of Beijing 1990 and Barcelona 1992 has not been exploited by
sports activists in Indonesia. And, in sports, unless we have an
obsession we are not going anywhere. Hence, it is the love of
sports that drives people to devote themselves in this field.
They don't crave anything. Their only wish is to see to it that
their athletes can win and are better than athletes from other
countries.

Q: It seems that the majority of patrons or prime movers are
generals, ministers or tycoons.

A: This should not pose a problem as long as they have time,
love sports and have the ability to lead, to create an atmosphere
of togetherness, and are not patronizing in their approach. Look
around and you will know that money is not everything in sports.

Q: Compared to the 1960s, it seems that there are fewer sports
activities at today's schools?

A: Yes. So far we have been talking about the "organizational
lane" of sports with KONI and the sports ministry. Schools are
the "educational lane" where the values of sportsmanship are
taught. Young students must learn to win and yet remain
respectful of their opponents, or to loose without breaking down.
Now that classes are being held at schools which run in day and
night shifts, the students are left with no playground. And when
they fight in the streets the blame is put on them.

Q: Do you see a way to create a lively sports program today?

A: The sports ministry must become the front runner in the
widest sense of the word. It must become a unifying force to
consolidate all the potential and must be able to dampen rifts
among sports activists. We no longer have to be engaged in
slinging matches. The ministry must be imbued with fresh ideas,
new ways, new motivation, new spirit. It must also be willing to
go out and communicate with KONI and the education ministry
people rather than simply giving instructions. (amd, hbk)