Playing the good host
Playing the good host
Every time an Israeli delegation is due here for a visit, the
government has to be extra careful about the political
repercussions that may arise. Many people here, for political
reasons, are still opposed to Israel's participation in whatever
event.
Almost all Indonesians who share this attitude link their
anti-Israel sentiment with the Preamble of the Constitution,
which states that freedom is the right of all nations. And Israel
has for the last 50 years deprived the Palestinians of this
right. Therefore, they say, allowing an Israeli sport delegation
to play here means to recognize its brutal oppression of the
Palestinian struggle.
The trouble is that this year Indonesia will host the 38th
World Outdoor Archery Championships, lasting from Aug. 1 through
Aug. 6. Israel and Portugal, two countries with whom Jakarta
happens to have no diplomatic relations, are scheduled to
participate. And the event will be opened by no less a person
that President Soeharto himself.
The question is: Must Indonesia deny the two countries entry
to the tournament, which would mean that it will turn the sports
meet into a political event in an ostentatious manner? If it were
to do so, what should be the reason for such an action?
While Israel has never maintained diplomatic relations with
Indonesia, Portugal severed relations after East Timor, the
colony which it left, was integrated into Indonesia in 1976.
Anti-Israel sentiment still runs high among many Indonesians.
In 1991, a tennis match during an international youth tournament
in Bombay, India, raised a blast of protests when Indonesian
players competed against Israel. The incident forced the
Indonesian Tennis Association to make a public apology.
Thus, although Indonesia will not compete face-to-face against
either Israel or Portugal in next week's world archery
championships, the question of the participation of Israel and
Portugal deserves to be discussed in earnest.
First, as the hosts of the event, Indonesians would do well to
calmly consider the fact that the championship is just a sporting
event, and not a political game. The host country is bound by
international protocol, and allowing Israel to play here does not
mean that this country has changed its stand.
After President Soeharto met with Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin at his residence in October 1993 -- the Indonesian
president was acting as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement --
he has remained a tough supporter of the Palestinian cause.
In 1962, President Sukarno barred Taiwan and Israel from
taking part in the Asian Games in Jakarta, but political
conditions at that time were entirely different. Israel and the
Arab countries were involved in a war of attrition, while now
even the Palestinians meet with the Israelis at the negotiating
table.
Sports, in many cases, cannot be separated from politics and
can even help express political concerns -- such as the West's
boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 in protest of the
occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union -- but to make
every sporting event a political game does not represent wise
statesmanship in this shrinking world.
For certain Indonesia will be appreciated by the international
community for its broad-mindedness by allowing the two countries
to compete in the upcoming world archery championship.
Former state minister of environment Emil Salim was only being
sensible when he aired his support for Indonesia's tolerance and
discipline towards international sport protocol in relation to
next week's championship.