Shameful culture

Shameful culture

During the recent SEA Games in Jakarta I enjoyed watching
several sport events on TV. What attracted me most was the
spectators' attitude (of course not all of them) in supporting
their country's sportsmen and sportswomen in their struggle to
win the games.

In the tennis matches, for instance, where the area is
relatively small, the spectators are expected to behave decently
because the players need a high degree of concentration. They
were not supposed to shout or make a noise during the serves or
rallies, because this could disturb the players's concentration.
Tamarine Tanasugarn complained about their behavior, which led to
Liza defeating her. It may be true or not. I myself think that as
a professional tennis player -- world ranked 37th -- she should
not let her game be ruined by spectator behavior.

The Jakarta Post of Oct. 18, 1997 even wrote "the spectators
win at-all-cost attitude and lack of basic tennis etiquette was
ugly". The climax came during the final soccer match between
Thailand and Indonesia. How could the spectators physically
terrorize the guest players by throwing empty bottles and stones?
Naturally, to a certain degree, blowing trumpets or horns,
beating tambourines, waving flags, etc., is allowed, but not the
terrorizing of players. I just could not believe how the
spectators (mostly youths) behaved so rudely, showing the world
how uneducated and uncivilized they were!

What surprised me also was that the crowd sitting close to the
brutal spectators did nothing to stop them and chose to stay
quiet and indifferent for the sake of safety. What a shame! This
kind of behavior surely tarnished the image of the Indonesian
people. I hope the government will not hesitate to take stern
action against the culprits and does not become permissive.

H.W. PIENANDORO

Bogor, West Java