Guess What? Joop Ave

A slip of the tongue can also happen to a minister. Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave experienced this when he spoke to reporters during his recent visit to the ongoing construction of an athletes village at the former shooting range in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Joop said Indonesia must remember its former athletes who won international tournaments. He suggested that the underwriting consortium name some suites after national athletes.

"We can start from Ferry Sonneville and Tan Yoe Hock," he said, referring to famous national shuttlers.

"We had Liem Sioe Liong, who won several All England titles after Rudy Hartono. But where is he? Nobody knows where he lives," he said.

Joop soon realized that he had said the wrong name. Liem Sioe Liong, who changed his name to Soedono Salim, is one of Indonesia's tycoons, just named as the country's top taxpayer. Joop should have named Liem Swie King, who won six All England titles.

"Well, they are both number one. Liem Sioe Liong is a number one taxpayer and Liem Swie King used to be a number one shuttler," he said with a laugh. (yan)