Sports and passion

Sports and passion

Congratulations to Farid Baskoro for overcoming the
unwillingness to debate what he says so many Indonesians
have..."especially in a language foreign to most."

Now I hope he can overcome the tendencies to misrepresent and
misquote others, to misuse his second language and to mistake
irrelevant hyperbole for humor.

To set the record straight:

1. Sports, for better or for worse, are passionate affairs
especially if you wish to play (or watch) the best. (Ask Susi,
Arbi about the passion needed for badminton). No passion equals
no excellence.

2. My letter did not suggest that there was no basis for Farid
Baskoro's statistics, only that (until his second letter) the
basis was unknown.

3. Having no knowledge (prior to the second letter) of how
Farid Baskoro arrived at this "favorite sports" list, it was his
choice of the word "conjecture" that led me to believe he relied
on guesswork.

4. Once more he has used conjecture or guesswork to assess me
as a "kind gentleman". Thanks. But going by the tone of this
letter I'm probably neither.

5. Farid Baskoro misquotes me as saying "knee-jerk Indonesian
parochialism." I did not use the word Indonesian because the
narrowness of his personal stance reflects not a jot on Indonesia
or Indonesians.

6. While rugby is played worldwide in more than 100 countries,
at no stage did I infer that it was "the height of worldliness."
Nor would I ever say that rugby is merely "earthly, mundane,
absorbed in the pursuit of material gain or carnal" as my Collins
Dictionary defines worldly.

Finally, I salute Farid Baskoro, Sawrey-Cookson and most
importantly the decision of The Jakarta Post sports editor for
ensuring that coverage of the Rugby World Cup, opened in such
grand style by the remarkable Nelson Mandela, has approached the
18.8 percent of space that 18.8 percent of readers desire and
deserve. (Baskoro's figures).

GRAEME ST. JOHN

Jakarta