The color of luck

I recall the battle of El Alamein in the desert of North Africa during World War II. In the beginning, the Germans, under Gen. Rommel, had the upper hand and the British, under Gen. Montgomery, were in disarray. In the end, however, the Germans were defeated.

Think of a recent football match. After 90 minutes of play at Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona, Spain, the German team was leading 1-0 and in three more minutes, injury time had to be added, the Champions Trophy would have been lifted by the Germans. Alex Ferguson, Manchester United's coach, had tears in his eyes while Bayern Munich fans were already celebrating their expected victory. Nothing could happen in the next three minutes. But the British strategy suddenly worked and they scored two goals in succession in injury time. As we all know, the end result was a 2-1 victory for the Red Devils. It was indeed a miraculous victory.

The Bayern Munich side, as one could expect from a German team, played efficient and effective football. Within five minutes they were leading 1-0 thanks to a deceptive free kick near the penalty area.

If you are superstitious, you may be inclined to believe that this year red seems to be a lucky color, but only after a hard struggle and after all resources have been nearly exhausted.

Several times during the campaign, cities across the country, particularly Jakarta, turned totally red, while the color yellow seems to belong to the past. White may soon be the dominant color in East Timor where the United Nations has begun supervising the self-determination process toward either integration or independence. Hopefully, there will be no more serious blood- letting in the Larasae saga, a tragic legacy of the Soeharto experiment.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta