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.