Political turmoil overshadows local sports

Political turmoil overshadows local sports

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian badminton enthusiasts will remember when a number of
the world's top players failed to turn up to the US$170,000
Indonesia Open in July, which took the gloss of the competition.

Top shuttlers from Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Denmark
and China cited security fears for their withdrawal.

The tournament was overshadowed by the threat of political
chaos in the run-up to the Special Session of the People's
Consultative Assembly, which later replaced then president
Abdurrahman Wahid with Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Barely three months had passed when the unfavorable political
climate again cast a shadow on sports in Indonesia. This time it
was even worse because not only did foreign players fail to turn
up, but some events were canceled altogether.

Like other parts of the world, Indonesia suffered from the
effects of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and it dealt
Indonesian sports a big blow.

Following the plane attacks, in which more than 3,000 people
were believed to have died, flight bookings were drastically cut
worldwide as flying fears intensified. The situation was
aggravated by an expectation -- and then a materialization -- of
the U.S.-led coalition's military campaign in Afghanistan.

Take two instances. A World Cup qualifying match between
Austria and Israel had to be delayed after Austria refused to
travel to Israel and the U.S. womens' tennis team had to abandon
its defense of the Federation Cup.

But the issues were different here where people were more
concerned about extremist Islamic organizations as opposed to air
travel. Athletes had been filled with anxiety after a number of
incidents, including the "sweeping" of expatriates.

U.S.-led coalition retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan were met
with an angry response by the organizations who vented their
anger at demonstrations where they called for a cut of diplomatic
ties. Expatriates, especially those of American and British
nationality, were taunted.

With the government slow in curbing the reaction, the
prospects that the situation might escalate to an alarming level
took its toll on sports in this country.

The Bermuda Bowl international bridge championship was to have
been staged in Bali from Oct. 20 to Nov. 2, but the World Bridge
Federation decided to move the venue to Paris after 11 of the 32
participants objected to traveling to Indonesia.

Surabaya should have hosted the US$110,000 Wismilak
International, but the World Tennis Association canceled, again
citing security fears.

For the same reasons, Japanese soccer team Kashima Antlers
refused to travel to Jakarta for the first leg of its Asian
Champions League match against local champion Persija on Oct. 24.

In all cases, there was nothing the tournament organizers
could do to push for a review of the decisions, given that the
authorities could not provide any safety guarantees.

Some tournaments did proceed as expected, but it was deprived
of some of foreigners: The Asian Sport Climbing event in Jakarta,
and the Indonesia Power Bali 10K run in Bali.

The cancellation of world-class tournaments brought
disadvantages not only to the tournaments' organizers and their
sponsorship partners but also to the country's sport development
as a whole.

The organizers, especially sponsors, did incur financial
losses given that they had already spent significant sums of
money on preparations and advertisements only to find that they
had invested for nothing.

As far as the tourism industry was concerned, the cancellation
aborted an expectation of reaping financial benefits from the
arrival of foreign participants and spectators.

The tournaments, if they had gone ahead, could have provided a
good opportunity not only for Indonesia to prove it could
organize international sporting events but for local athletes to
perform in front of their home crowd in world-class events, a
rarity.

And then there is, or was, the home-ground advantage.

The national bridge team has been one of the dominant forces
in the world and could have won the Bermuda Trophy for the first
time. At least the players had nurtured a winning mood in their
mind for the tournament. They were knocked out in the
quarterfinals in Paris.

Pelti, the Indonesian tennis governing body, might have dreamt
of Wynne Prakusya or rising star Angelique Widjaja winning in
front of an ecstatic home crowd. Or, buoyed by its own fans,
Persija could have upset its almost invincible Japanese
opponents.

Broadly speaking, the revocation of the tournaments must have
left Indonesia ruing the missed chances of improving its image
already rocked by the country's gloomy showing at the recent
Southeast Asian Games.

The failure of foreign competitors to turn up had the
potential to diminish the value of the tournaments. The
spectators became less enthusiastic about watching and any hopes
of a boost to Indonesian sports all but disappeared.

"The drop in the number of the spectators must have dealt a
blow to the advertisers. Sponsors would like to see as many
spectators as possible so that their products get greater
exposure," said Maya Hidayat, a senior officer of International
Management Group, the American-based event organizer.