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