By Primastuti Handayani

Transportation problem mars Indonesian Open

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Medan is the third largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta and Surabaya. However, sheer size has little to do with hosting a big event like the Sony Badminton Indonesia Open.

As was the case with the just-completed Centennial Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, which drew criticism, particularly in relation to transportation, the organizers of the Medan tournament have faced a similar barrage of complaints.

Besides the power problem and the leaks at Medan's Teachers Training Institute hall, located about 10 kilometers out of town, the organizer failed to coordinate with the city administration to provide shuttle buses for spectators.

Getting to and from the venue for the event was not an easy thing to do, especially at night.

Local spectators had to walk about 1.5 km from the bus shelter on the main street called Jl. Pancing to get into the institute complex.

The matches mostly took place in the evening. And spectators, especially those who use public transportation, had to leave the stadium early to get buses home.

The situation on the campus itself was scary at night because there are no streetlights.

The easiest way to get to the campus was by taxi, returning to the city was difficult because cabs were hard to find in that area.

If spectators were lucky enough to find one, they faced tough bargaining about the fare with the driver, who was sure to refuse to use the meter.

Although the organizers provided shuttle buses from two big hotels, Soechi Novotel and Tiara Medan downtown, they were only for the players, event officials and the press.

The buses, which were scheduled to leave the hotels every 30 minutes, often come late, forcing even the players to wait.

Indonesian Hermawan Susanto, who was supposed to get home for a break before the third match on Wednesday evening, had to wait for 30 minutes and walked around the stadium looking for the bus.

Luckily, an official of the Badminton Association of Indonesia was finally able to ask the organizer to call for a bus from the hotel.

Malaysian Ng Kam Fook, who was defeated by Hariyanto Arbi on Tuesday evening, was left by the bus and had to wait alone in front of the venue.

Needless to say, a lack of spectators was increasingly apparent as the event, which ended yesterday, progressed. On the first day, all freshmen at the institute were instructed to attend the opening ceremony since North Sumatra Governor Raja Inal Siregar himself opened the tournament.

As soon as the governor left, the students left as well, leaving the hall almost empty.

There were almost no promotional banners up in Medan itself, the organizers placed the majority along the access road to the campus.

A correspondent for a Jakarta-based daily said that many residents of Medan did not know about the championships.

"I think the organizer only relied on publication in the newspapers," he said. "Besides, badminton is not a popular sport here, unlike soccer or boxing."

The few local spectators who did show up were likely to turn out to be friends or relatives of the organizing staff who could get them in for free.

And even though reporters were eager to attend, the organizing committee did not make it easy. On Monday, the organizers announced to the press that each reporter should turn in a passport-sized photograph for the processing of identification cards.

The press IDs were never distributed, however, because the organizing committee staff in charge of making the press cards, lost all of the photographs and failed to produce them. The journalists all ended up using athlete ID cards instead.

The organizers also failed to provide a special place for journalists at the court. And security officers did their best to get the newspapers journalists out of the way, saying "You are bothering the TV crews."

The crew of the privately owned television network, RCTI, which paid for the broadcasting rights, received much better treatment than the print media journalists.

Apparently Medan was still learning how to host an international sports event. As Honorary Referee of the International Badminton Federation Jim Lambert said, "We need to learn. And we are learning by doing."