Sporting behavior?

Indonesians have no lack of excitement. Every day something happens, sometimes nice but most of the time unpleasant. We have witnessed fires which have swept through villages and made hundreds of people homeless, we have read about tragic air accidents in which the crew and passengers perished, we have heard about the overloaded ferry on Lake Toba sinking and claiming a large number of lives, and most recently, on July 25 about 40 Indonesians lost their lives when a boat and a tanker collided in the Strait of Malacca.

The weakening of the rupiah meant many people had sleepless nights and the intended sale of the Salim group shares to Singapore added to the financial confusion.

All these things were still fresh in our mind when we read about the vandalism committed by fanatical football supporters. These young hooligans threw stones at trains passing through Central Java, and in Jakarta the East Java mob, called bonek, robbed people, drinking and eating without paying which created problems for many street vendors who lost a great deal of their daily income.

Why were they doing this? Who suffered from this vandalism? It was of course the poor, innocent people. But conglomerates and big businesspeople were also affected by their misconduct.

Why didn't they think before creating havoc? Why did they react in such a way at a football match? Sport should be enjoyed. Losing or winning is a natural outcome of competition and should not create disturbances. This is not the first time that supporters expressed themselves in extreme ways, unacceptable by any standards. Vandalism is not something new. We must educate the young to be mature and avoid doing things which are regrettable later.

Supporters are welcome because they encourage the players and make them play to the best of their ability. But sport is sport. The military and the police seemed to have made thorough preparation to control the situation.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta