Poor SEA Games record shows Indonesia's slide

Poor SEA Games record shows Indonesia's slide

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Once considered a sports giant among members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia began
to lose its domination of the biennial Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games in 1999.

Simple statistics show that Indonesian athletes were only able
to win some 18 percent of gold medals at the last two SEA Games.

There were 391 gold medals in 32 sports events being offered
in the last SEA Games. Indonesia participated in 29 sports events
but could only achieve 72 gold medals.

The Indonesian team finished an overall third in the medal
tally after Malaysia and Thailand.

Two years earlier, in Bandar Seri Begawan, the national
contingent produced an even poorer performance winning a mere 44
gold medals out of 233.

It was not the first time that Indonesia did not finish
overall champion at the games, but two consecutive poor showings,
finishing a poor third in each, was agonizing.

It was the two worst performances since Indonesia took part in
the games in 1977.

But rather than taking responsibility and admitting that there
may be something wrong in the way sports is managed here,
officials of the National Sports Council (KONI) instead quickly
found a convenient scapegoat for the poor performance.

They placed the blame on the state's lack of support and
severe funding shortages.

The nine-month-long preparation for the SEA Games was shadowed
by financial uncertainty. KONI chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar was
often forced to approach provincial administrations and councils
to beg for money.

KONI officials cleverly pointed out that Indonesia's failure
was in large part due to a poor showing in three sports that
offered some 30 gold medals -- pool events with 43 gold medals on
offer, shooting with 36 and track and field with 46.

"There were 125 gold medals being offered in these three
sports, or some 32 percent of the total number of gold medals
available. But we could only win eight gold medals," said Imam
Sujudi, who was responsible for evaluating the Indonesian
national team's performance at the Kuala Lumpur games.

In these three events Indonesia won two golds in swimming
thanks to veteran Richard Sam Bera, three golds in shooting from
Sarmunah, Sylvia Silimang and Supadmi, three golds in track and
field from Supriati Sutono and Ni Putu Desi Margawati.

The results also showed a contrast in achievement for the
national associations of these three sports.

The Indonesian Target Shooting and Hunting Association
(Perbakin), which had only targeted one gold medal, managed to
win three while the Indonesian Swimming Federation (PRSI) only
fulfilled two of the five promised golds.

The Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI), which had
boasted getting 11 golds, went home with just three.

KONI official Harsuki said Indonesia missed too many chances.

"Indonesia relied on six sports that offered less than 30
golds," he said.

Pencak silat with 21, cycling 20, weightlifting 13, rowing
eight, badminton seven and tennis seven.

KONI maintains that its athletes had given their best, as if
finishing third ahead of sports minors such as Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Singapore or Vietnam was a noteworthy achievement.

Malaysia managed to topple reigning grand champion Thailand in
the medal tally, despite strong questions being raised concerning
the fairness of judges and juries in the diving, gymnastics and
martial arts events.

Looking for a silver lining, former chef-de-mission Putera
Astaman insisted that Indonesian athletes had done their utmost
by holding on to third place.

"Even Thailand was toppled from the top position and other
countries also lost their 1999 SEA Games position," he said.

One of the most blatant lessons of the games was that
Indonesia had failed to encourage its younger athletes to replace
their seniors.

It was widely believed that Wismoyo used his influence to the
then chairman of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI),
Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, who was Wismoyo's junior in the military, to
field senior shuttlers instead of up-and-coming juniors.

Still, PBSI was expected to seal domination by grabbing all
seven gold medals in badminton. They tried to humble themselves
by merely setting a target of five, but came home with a poor
four gold medals.

KONI's insistence of using veteran athletes was also apparent
in PRSI's decision to call Richard Sam Bera back to the pool. The
veteran performed beyond expectation grabbing two gold medals in
his favorite men's freestyle 50m and 100m events.

In the track events, veteran distance runner Supriati came
home with two gold medals as well as breaking her own SEA Games
record in the women's 5,000m and 10,000m events. The achievement
also signified a glorious farewell as she announced her
retirement after the games.

Among the heartaches during the games was seeing lifter Gustar
Junianto stripped of his gold medal in the men's 62kg
weightlifting after a doping test found traces of nandrolone.

The 2001 SEA Games seemed to be an exercise in stagnation for
Indonesia, as rival countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and
Vietnam were honing their athletes not only for domination in the
SEA Games but even higher.

Vietnam, which only finished sixth in 1999, grabbed fourth
place and was close to threatening Indonesia.

KONI officials should keep an eye on Vietnam as it will also
host the 2003 SEA Games. There is no doubt that Vietnam will be
making a push to obtain one of the top three spots.

Countries such as Myanmar and the Philippines may also pose a
threat in certain sports.

In the women's weightlifting event Olympic silver medalist
Lisa Rumbewas was left stunned as she went home empty handed,
beaten by a weightlifter from Myanmar.

Meanwhile, as a member of the Commonwealth, Malaysia is
already setting its sights on the 2002 Commonwealth Games, to be
held in Manchester in the United Kingdom, while Thailand has
already focussed its young athletes on the 2004 Olympics in
Athens.

For many Indonesian athletes there is currently little hope of
breaking the Southeast Asian scene, let alone the Asian scene.

They may be the fastest sprinter or swimmer or manage to lift
the heaviest weights to earn a SEA Games gold medal. But it is
still not enough to register a blip at the Asian Games.

Indonesian shooting and fencing associations have already
withdrawn from preparations for the Busan 2002 Asiad. They
concede that it is impossible for their athletes to compete at
that level.

After the Asian Games next year, we will have to wait until
2003 to see whether KONI will be able to maintain its third
position or, at worse, finish below Vietnam.