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