Legend 'Magic' Johnson and Abdul Jabbar to visit Jakarta
Legend 'Magic' Johnson and Abdul Jabbar to visit Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): In December, it is Santa Claus. But in April, it is basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who is going to come to town.
And so is Kareem Abdul Jabbar, another living legend from the National Basketball Association's (NBA's) Los Angeles Lakers. But don't think this news is just an early April fool's joke.
While there will certainly be no problem about Kareem's planned visit, from April 28-30, it appears NBA fans will also be able to shake hands with the great power forward, Johnson, who has admitted to being a carrier of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.
Last year a plan to bring Johnson here was suspended amid heated public debate concerning the player's health. This time, though, the public's attitude towards Johnson's visit seems to be one of indifference.
"Nobody has so far either opposed or expressed approval of the revival of the plan to invite Johnson," promoter Ary Sudarsono told The Jakarta Post yesterday. He added that he would be able to give information about Johnson's schedule in Indonesia only after the end of this, the Moslem fasting month.
Ary quoted Ron Rossen, Johnson's manager, as saying that Johnson was still willing to come here, provided there were no longer objections to his visiting here.
"We have been attending to everything necessary for him to obtain formal permission to visit," Ary said.
On Jan. 25 last year Ary dropped the plan to organize an Indonesian visit for the five-time NBA's most valuable player and his team, the Magic Johnson All Stars, after the government banned the superstar from entering the country.
If the Johnson trip does go ahead this April, he and his team will play against the Australian Wild Cats, Ary said.
Originally, the plan was to pit Johnson's team of ten not only against the Australians, but also against a Chinese team and an Indonesian team, to have been made up of Indonesia's best players.
However, the Chinese team is unable to come and "the Indonesian team appears to be so far outclassed that we decided not to pit it against Johnson's team," Ary said.
Marcel Maulana, another organizer working with Ary on the Johnson visit, had previously told reporters that a fund of Rp 800 million (US$362,154) had been raised to help realize the plan.
Marcel added that he had explained to Johnson that many Indonesians still lacked understanding of HIV, just as Americans, too, used to harbor ill-feeling towards those affected by the disease.
As for Kareem's visit, Ary said he was "still waiting for his formal reply."
The all-time great center will pay a courtesy visit to Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman and to the chairman of the Indonesian Basketball Association, Harmoko, Ary said.
Kareem, the Lakers' dominant force until his retirement in 1989, will also award a Cup named after him to the winner of an elementary school basketball championship, Ary said. (arf/amd)