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.