Badminton hooligans are probably recruits, said a shrink

JAKARTA (JP): A psychologist suspects that most of the rowdy, bottle-throwing Indonesian supporters at the Thomas Cup final on Saturday were recruited to be there.

"Judging from their wildly vicious behavior, I suspect that these people did not pay for their tickets and, in fact, were recruits of a 'particular party'," Dr. Budi Matindas, a psychologist from the University of Indonesia, said yesterday.

Matindas declined to name the "particular party."

He told The Jakarta Post that he suspects the raucous spectators were "most probably comprised of people with low intellects and a lot of emotional baggage."

Indonesia's first Thomas triumph after a 10 year struggle was tainted by controversy after some of the ecstatic home fans rained the Malaysian players with empty plastic bottles during the course of the games.

Despite the deployment of several hundred security officials at Senayan, order was difficult to maintain as the stadium, which is designed to hold only 10,000 spectators, was flooded by well over 12,000 mostly partisan Indonesian supporters on Saturday.

The row started when Malaysia's Ong Ewe Hock was hit on the shoulder by an empty plastic bottle as he was about to loose the match to Indonesia's Ardy Wiranata at 5-14 in the second set.

Indonesia was already ahead 2-0 in the best of five final.

The championship was stopped at 3-0 after Ardy's victory by the Swedish honorary umpire Roger Johansson, reportedly at the request of Datuk Abdullah Fadzil Che Wan, president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).

Johansson, however, claimed that his action was based on "mutual agreement from all sides involved".

At another occasion, Punch Gunalan, BAM's secretary and the Malaysian team manager, threatened that the Indonesians will receive similar treatment at the hands of the Malaysian fans should the two rivals meet again on his side of the border.

This is the second time in the Thomas Cup's 45 year history that the final has not been completed. The first was in 1967, between the same two countries, and in the same stadium, where the crowd nearly started a riot.

Then, when the Thomas was still played as the best of nine games, the Malaysians were leading 4-3 when the tournament was aborted. The championship was eventually awarded to Malaysia 6-3 after Indonesia refused to continue at a neutral venue.

Matindas also suspects, based on what he termed "casual observation", that the maniacal spectators were all poor.

"I don't think intellectually mature and educated spectators will go as far as throwing bottles or painting their faces," he said.

Malaysian fans

On a separate occasion, Indonesian badminton legend Rudy Hartono, eight time All England single champion who is now an official of the International Badminton Federation (IBF), said Indonesians supporters are not necessarily to blame for the unwelcome projectiles.

"It is possible that it was the disappointed Malaysian fans who were throwing things at their athletes," Rudy said.

The veteran also said that he will "argue for Indonesia" at subsequent IBF meetings.

Meanwhile, Lufti Hamid, the team manager for the Indonesian Uber and Thomas Cups, said that the Malaysian crowds were just as rowdy at their previous meeting in Kuala Lumpur in the 1993 world badminton Grand Prix finals last December.

"They also threw empty bottles and other hard objects at us then, but we never complained," he said.

Lufti also remarked that some Indonesian supporters at that tournament were detained by the Malaysian police.

He also said that he was not afraid of possible retaliation from the Malaysian spectators at future meetings.

Soerjadi, chairman of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) who is also the army's deputy chief of staff, contended that the mob's behavior was "still normal."

State Minister for Youth and Sports Development Hayono Isman, who sat in the VIP box for all of Saturday night's matches, concurred that the behavior of the Indonesian spectators remained within "reasonable limits".

Bonus

In an unrelated development, Lufti said that a number of sponsors will shortly shower the Indonesian shuttlers with prizes in reward for their successful capture of badminton's two most prestigious titles.

He said that Yonex will grant the Thomas team members Rp 100 million each and the Uber squad Rp 80 million each.

Both President and Mrs. Soeharto have also sent a congratulatory note to the two teams. (hdj)

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