'It's so quiet here'

JAKARTA: Badminton events here normally attract huge crowds, especially the prestigious Thomas Cup and Uber Cup championships. But things seem to be different for the 2004 edition of the biennial events.

"I wonder why it's so quiet now. I don't see many banners or other promotional material around," Lukman Salleh, a journalist from Malaysia's Berita Harian daily, said to The Jakarta Post on the opening day.

"Did you have any promotion for this year's events?"

He said that the low number of visitors was probably because it was the opening day and the fact that Indonesia was the Thomas Cup defending champion.

"I'm sure many people will come if Malaysia had beat Indonesia in Guangzhou (China) two years ago. The Indonesian spectators would support their team to see if it could snatch the Cup back from us," he said with a smile.

Indonesia and Malaysia are long-time arch rivals in the men's team event. The home crowd usually places huge pressure on Indonesia's opponents. -- JP