Mattalatta, 'rooster from the east'

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

The screen of a 21-inch television displayed a number of water- ski athletes riding the waves, individually or otherwise, with a cheering crowd watching them from the beach. Indonesia's first president Sukarno was seen among the crowd.

The same video recording has been played over and over again in the living room of Andi Mattalatta, one of the athletes who took part in the 1957 water ski event at Makassar beach.

Born on Sept. 1, 1920, Mattalatta's name is synonymous with water sports in Indonesia. Brought up by a Dutch family, he had excelled at several sports as a youth, such as swimming, horse riding, aerobics, shooting and martial arts.

During the Dutch colonial period, he won several first prizes in these sports. Building his career in the military, Mattalatta was the founder of the Indonesian Association of Motorized Vessel Sports and Water Skiing (POPSA).

The recording which was played when The Jakarta Post visited him at his house in downtown Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, showed not only the performance of local water skiers, but also Mattalatta's skill as a lassoer.

With a pistol at his waist, he moved about, donning the costume of a cowboy. The rope came alive in his hands. He played the Crinoline (rope) agilely.

"I could at that time catch a horse with a rope while I was riding another horse. I could also make some acrobatic movements while on the saddle, just like what you see in cowboy and rodeo films," he said, showing a photograph taken in the 1930s depicting him doing the steunstand on a bike.

Mattalatta always plays his video recordings or looks at his albums of photographs when he misses sports or his late wife. He will take out other photographs -- all nicely framed -- to the badminton court at the back of his house.

Then he will display these photographs around the badminton court and closely observe each of them.

These photographs, the video recording and the citations hung on the wall are all testimony that Mattalatta has been an athlete, a fighter and a community figure. Such achievements are indeed worthy of commendation.

As a Bugis who loves his motherland, he is aptly called "the rooster of the east". When the capital city of the young Republic of Indonesia was moved to Yogyakarta, he was there, fiercely fighting against the Dutch colonial troops both in South Sulawesi and in Yogyakarta.

Mattalatta has written a 642-page memoir called Meniti Siri dan Harga Diri (Going along the path of self-dignity), in which he dwells on his early life as the son of a king in Barru and his experiences living with a Dutch family. The book also tells of his experiences as a guerrilla fighter.

As a Bugis, he holds the principle of moving forward in life without fear.

"The Bugis people are noted for their courage and great determination. That's why I always pushed for the construction of a sports stadium in Makassar. We, Bugis people, prefer death to shame. For this very reason, I also fought hard to have the national sports weeks held in South Sulawesi in 1957," he told The Post.

In 1957, he was a lieutenant colonel and was in charge of the South and Southeast Sulawesi military region commands. At that time, many young people who used to defend Indonesia rebelled against the republic. They went to the forest areas and joined the rebels because they could not join the Indonesian Military.

Mattalatta approached these wayward youngsters not by confrontation, but through friendship. He intensified sports activities among the community.

"One of the ways to win the hearts and minds of the people was to have the fourth national sports week held in Makassar. Problems arose because there was neither a sports stadium nor a sports halls in this city" he said.

With the strong determination of the Bugis, he went to Jakarta with this proposal. Unfortunately, he said, some officials of the central government laughed at this proposal, saying that it would not be possible to have a stadium and other sports facilities established for the national sports week within just half a year.

They also said that even if the money was there, it would take about four years to build the facilities.

"Nevertheless, I met Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX, then the general chairman of the Indonesian Olympics Committee to ask him for approval to hold the sports week in Makassar. The sultan agreed right away. 'I have never known any other Indonesian like Andi Mattalatta,' he said. 'He fought against the Dutch in South Sulawesi and did so on Java island. Without his struggle, we would perhaps be under the Dutch rule,'" said Mattalatta, a retired major general of the army, quoting the sultan.

With approval in hand, he returned to South Sulawesi and had a stadium as well as other sports facilities built within six months.

"One battalion of soldiers worked a full twenty-four hours in building an imposing stadium and other sports facilities. I funded the construction myself," he added.

Because of his old age, his children do not allow him all the freedom to carry out his sports activities, especially because he was recently admitted to hospital. But in fact, he is strong enough to walk on the beach for two hours in the sun.

"Now I'm just 157 cm, 10 cm less than when I was younger. What's the matter with me?" queried Mattalatta, who is a great fan of broad-chested Johnny Weissmuller, the Tarzan of the 1930s films.