Getting Back on Track

Not too long ago, Indonesia boasted badminton champions Rudy Hartono, Liem Swie King and Susy Susanti, tennis ace Yayuk Basuki and boxer Ellyas Pical among athletes who had earned respect for their international sporting achievements. Today, with few national athletes reaching the top of their sport, there is little to celebrate. Maggie Tiojakin and Bruce Emond examines what went wrong, and the effort to give Indonesia a sporting chance once again.

We know something is seriously amiss when our children are more familiar with David Beckham’s exploits on and off the pitch than Bambang Pamungkas’ outstanding tally of goals. We think wistfully of our nation’s past golden sporting moments – remember Susy Susanti winning Indonesia’s first Olympic gold medal in 1992, standing tearfully on the podium as the national anthem played and the red-and-white flag was raised – and know that they will probably not get to experience that same patriotic rush.

Local sports heroes had names and faces back then; today, we are hard pressed to list even a handful aside from world champion boxer Chris John and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat. It’s sad to be sure, but we accept it as reflecting the society we live in and the lack of respect – including our own – for national sports today.

For the collective spirit that inspired Indonesian athletes from the early years of Indonesia’s independence, when the national men’s badminton squad won the Thomas Cup in 1958, all the way through the 1990s seems to have dissipated if not vanished altogether. True, Indonesia was never a powerhouse internationally, but it was regionally, and some athletes did reach the top of their sports. Win or lose, Indonesia’s athletes were proud to give their all to represent their country. 

In the past decade Indonesia’s sporting fortunes have slumped dismally. We have become a nation of spectators, watching famous foreign soccer teams fly in to play one-night exhibitions in town, and looking on as our neighbors collect the lion’s haul of medals at the Southeast Asian Games, the regional event we once dominated. We last emerged as the overall medal champion for the ninth time way back in 1997, on home soil in Jakarta.

Even in badminton, the sport Indonesia once relied on to boost national pride, the country has fallen behind China and South Korea, with new rivals emerging. Many national squad players, seeking better prospects, are now playing for other countries.

After each failure, such as after national badminton players emerged empty handed from June’s Indonesia Open, the sports associations faithfully launch an inquiry into what went wrong. Lots of fingers are pointed, including at poor facilities and equipment, substandard coaching, inadequate talent scouting and the perennial issue of budget constraints.

Whichever the cause, or combination of causes, it’s clear Indonesia needs to get back on track soon – or face becoming the lumbering also-ran, a country with few champions among its huge population.

“It was a really good time in the 1990s to mold and nurture the sports talents we had had in this country,” says Eben Rukman, a local writer who contributes to BOLA sports tabloid. “In the early 2000s, it was a wonderful time to pick up where we initially left off. Now, we have no choice: because if we don’t pull ourselves together right this minute, we’re done. We’ll be on the bench for life.”

Most sports use a centralized national training system, but Eben contends they are part of the problem.

“National training centers are no longer what they once were. The facilities are in poor condition, and the same is true of the stamina of the players and their commitment to the games. What happens when we are not prepared to play and win hard? We lose.”

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In September 2005, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivered a speech on National Sports Day urging everybody to do their part to revive the sports scene. He said the government could not be expected to shoulder the responsibility alone, as the country was still in the process of overcoming important economic issues.

“The key for sports progression and performance is to love sports,” the President said.

In his speech commemorating the same day two years later, the President once again underlined the need to build a sports community. To implement this vision, the State Ministry for Youth and Sports Affairs was setting up a 10-year program to help schoolchildren master sports.

In writing about the plans, longtime sports writer Primastuti Handayani, now a managing editor at The Jakarta Post, noted that founding president Sukarno initiated a similar program in 1961 for schoolchildren that also emphasized the importance of recreational sports for families.

Twenty-two years later, then president Soeharto encouraged the public to get involved in sports development by establishing National Sports Day. During his 32-year tenure, the National Games were held every four years in different cities in a bid to boost sports development and provide infrastructure in those areas.

“The situation has now changed,” Primastuti wrote. “Schools only allocate an average of two hours per week for sports and physical education. This is exacerbated by a lack of sports facilities and teachers.”

A fundamental need for budding athletes is access to sports facilities so they can develop their love of competition and hone their skills. It’s not enough to simply tell them to go practice soccer or badminton on an empty field when they don’t even have the equipment to play the game.

On a lazy Saturday morning at Pasar Festival in Kuningan, South Jakarta, local clubs are holding a judo tournament for juniors. Children file through the stadium, waiting for their chance to compete, each bearing the countenance of a gladiator ready for battle. But this may be about as far as many of them go in their sporting aspirations, stopped in their tracks by a dearth of facilities and assistance to help them develop.

“We’re still using the mats we received about 10 years ago, donated by a Japanese organization,” one of the coaches says. “If we tried to buy new ones, it would be exorbitantly expensive, because of the customs duties.”

He shakes his head in frustration, although he is still trying to instill his passion for the sport in youngsters. “There is too much bureaucracy involved and not enough money.”

“What [the sports community] needs right now is state-of-the-art sports facilities,” says Fritz Simanjuntak, a former official with the National Sports Council (KONI) and sports observer. “Without vital sports infrastructure, it doesn’t matter if we have 100 trained athletes: we will still lag behind everyone else.”

Fritz believes that national sports community will benefit from an advanced sports system already used by other countries. It centers on a technology-driven facility involving a large and functional stadium, as well as a sports laboratory.

“How can we tell if an athlete is developing to his or her maximum potential if we don’t have the necessary equipment?” asks Fritz. “We need a new stadium that is much better equipped than Istora Senayan.”

That will take money, which always is in short supply when it comes to funding sports.

In May, the government announced it would stop funding programs preparing athletes for December’s SEA Games in Laos, Vietnam. The highly controversial decision, which left the National Sports Council scrambling for funds, was perceived by many as an insult to the sports community.

A month later, the council’s chairwoman, Rita Subowo, announced a new partnership between the nation’s largest sports institution and a Japanese-based private advertising agency, PT Dentsu Indonesia. The partnership is meant to symbolize an independent effort on the part of KONI to secure a long-term commitment to reviving national sports after the government cut them loose.

“We have to reach out to private institutions for aid,” says Rita. “And, together with Dentsu Indonesia, we are launching an initiative program called ‘Go Indonesia!’ to inspire everyone to support our national teams and athletes.”

Through the program, KONI aims to do more than just prepare athletes for the SEA Games – the London 2012 Olympic Games are also on the agenda. Rita hopes KONI will be able to send at least 50 athletes to compete in London.

The cutbacks have caused other problems, particularly for small national sports associations. The national indoor volleyball team, for instance, is doing its utmost to prepare for the SEA Games, including participating at the World Championship in Thailand and the All-Asia Championship in the United Arab Emirates. However, limited funds mean eight of the 18 competing athletes will have to pay their own way to the Games, with nearly all of the coaches doing the same.

“It’s a risk we have to take,” Heyzer Harsono, the team’s manager, was quoted as saying by Antara news agency in May 2009. “Because we can’t afford to reduce the number of athletes and coaches.”

The traditional Indonesian martial arts of pencak silat and sepak takraw are said to have been hardest hit by the cutbacks, as their athletes customarily rely on government funding to continue their training programs

“We are now prioritizing sports with the best medal prospects not included in the sports ministry’s TAP [Top-tier Athletes Program],” Rosihan Arsyad, KONI’s secretary-general, told The Jakarta Post in May, adding that of the council’s initial request for Rp 120 billion to be allocated to sports programs “not a cent … was approved”.

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Money makes the world go around, and it also helps athletes get the recognition and training they deserve. Some of the world’s best teams rely on billions of dollars’ worth of programs and facilities to keep their athletes productive, often derived from private sponsorships. In Indonesia, corporate and private sponsorship of sports, despite the involvement of major investors such as Djarum Indonesia, Dentsu Indonesia and IndoFood, remain few and far between.

“When you talk about private sponsorship, you talk about sports as a business enterprise,” says Eben. “It’s important to make the distinction between sports as national pride, and sports as a business entity, because you don’t approach them the same way.”

In Eben’s opinion, sports serve as a cultural and social medium for forging national pride, where people come together for a single cause; as business, sport is meant to represent particular brands and identities, which ultimately lead to financial profit. Private sponsorship requires profile compartmentalization, the idolization of a chosen athlete, groomed and readied for countless photo shoots and makeovers — or, basically, a money-making face and figure. Nevertheless, the icon must come before the cash.

“Once you have them winning a prestigious competition, they become national heroes — and everyone will want to get them on the phone: advertising agencies, brand managers, etcetera,” says Eben, citing Michael Jordan, the basketball great who has become the face of sportswear brand Nike.

Corporate sponsorships may be the way for Indonesian sport to gain the funding it needs if the cash-strapped government cannot come up with the goods. But some argue it will require a new attitude from sports officials in working together with their sponsors.

Years ago, a multinational company attempted to sponsor one of the country’s sports teams in a tie-up based on successful foreign sports sponsorships. Unfortunately, different factors had not been taken into account, an executive involved in the sponsorship remembers. Various members of the sport’s association wanted a personal cut of the sponsorship money, while several team members also balked at not getting a higher percentage for themselves. Inevitably, the sponsorship was doomed to failure.

“We spent most of the time just trying to get the basic principles of the agreement complied with,” the executive says. “And even that didn’t work, because they had accepted the contract without thinking of the responsibilities.”

Nobody, from the athletes to the association’s directors, wanted to put aside their personal concerns for the greater good of their sport.

Unfortunately, just as national sports associations are notorious for their internal politics, some of Indonesia’s leading athletes have become known for their unprofessional and diva-like behavior, from refusing to show up for scheduled practices and going AWOL from national training centers to getting into protracted disputes when things don’t go their way.

Many parents don’t want their children to focus on an athletic career when the rewards of years of hard work are unclear. There are the horror stories of former national champions ending up with nothing to show for their efforts, left to pawn their trophies and medals to survive, after sacrificing their education in the name of sports.

Nila Nandini is one parent who supports her children’s sporting aspirations. The 8.5-year-old loves soccer, his older brother has set his sights on being a badminton player. She was once an athlete herself, first in diving and then in synchronized swimming. She even made it to the prequalification for the SEA Games but it was decided that an older diver should be given priority.

Every Saturday morning, she watches her son Muhammad’s soccer practice at the Senayan sports complex. If the telecommunications account manager cannot make it because of an out-of-town job assignment, the boy’s grandmother accompanies him.

“We don’t have a focus about what we want to do in sports,” she says of the national situation. “First all the attention is one sport, like badminton in the past and right now with soccer, and then we move on to another sport, without focusing.”

She says she tells her sons that they can pursue their sports dreams, but they have to realize it’s not just playing around. As a former athlete, she knows the necessity of discipline and setting goals.

“I tell them that there are consequences of their choices, and that they have their responsibilities to take into account.”

According to writer and commentator Gola Gong, the country is in dire need of a national sporting hero to look up to, “someone who cares more about the country than those who claim to be leaders, who spend more time looking after their own prized possessions.”

He identifies soccer player Bambang Pamungkas as such a figure, “who is incredibly down to earth, and has always idolized fellow Indonesian players, rather than foreign players.”

Bambang has scored no fewer than 33 goals since he started his sports career in 1999. The 29-year-old is known for his agility and stamina, which earned him stints playing in the Netherlands and Malaysia. Bambang has returned home and is currently preparing for the World Cup 2010.

Soccer is the most popular sport in Indonesia, so it’s a given that Bambang is well known among fans. For those who are not switched onto the sport, it is more of a case of “Bambang who?”

“We, as a team, just want to do our best for this country,” says Bambang. “We want to give our maximum ability: whatever we have, we’ll give in the game.”

Badminton was once the top sport, but many Indonesian badminton players have sought better lives and prospects abroad. Coaches, also frustrated by the system, have felt compelled to try their luck in other countries. Sure, the material rewards are higher, but there also is respect for the skills the coaches have to offer.

Former Olympic badminton doubles gold medalist Rexy Mainaky moved to England to coach in 2002 (he now coaches in Malaysia). Although he said he dreamed of one day returning to Indonesia to find potential champions outside the traditional scouting grounds of Java, he also was realistic about his career.

“If a call came in asking me to go back to Indonesia to work, and there was an offer at the same time from the BAE [Badminton Association of England], then I’d stay here,” he said in 2003.

“I get the same benefits as someone from here, so what’s lacking?”

Soccer is one of the exceptions in providing more security, with salaries increasing in recent years with an influx of foreign players. Bambang says he does not need to be feted as a national icon. For him, what matters most is how he plays the game. He personally rates Kurniawan Dwi Julianto as the best striker the country has ever had. “He’s an amazing athlete,” he says. “And I am lucky to have played with him at the 2002 Tiger Cup.”

This may seem naïve or disingenuous coming from someone dubbed the “miracle doctor” for his skills, but it is also heart-warming.

* * *

Sometimes an outsider’s view gives a more complete perspective on a situation. Indonesian-born badminton player Tony Gunawan, now residing and playing in the US, has some blunt advice to revive badminton in his home country.

“The people at the badminton organization [PBSI] have to do something about the fact that their players are lagging behind,” he says. “I don’t know where or what the problem is, but I do know that Indonesia, China and South Korea no longer run the badminton show — so, they better get in shape. Fast.”

Currently working as a badminton coach at the Orange County Badminton Club in California, Tony is confident that in the near future the US team will join the ranks of the nations who currently rule the courts. His warning to the Indonesian team is to anticipate new, formidable opponents, such as India, Germany, France, Bulgaria and, of course, the States.

“It’s up to PBSI now,” he says. “If they haven’t started to fix the situation, they may just as easily give up the opportunity to sing the national anthem at any world championships.”

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