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Ali leaves lasting legacy in Indonesia

In the history of boxing, Muhammad Ali’s fight against Dutch heavyweight Rudi Lubbers in Jakarta on Oct

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, June 6, 2016

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Ali leaves lasting legacy in Indonesia

I

n the history of boxing, Muhammad Ali’s fight against Dutch heavyweight Rudi Lubbers in Jakarta on Oct. 20, 1973 may have been an exercise in preparation for his rematch against Joe Frazier, but the event left a lasting legacy, one that is rich in cultural and political significance.

By staging his fight in a predominantly Muslim country, it was easy for Ali, who converted to Islam in 1965, to get the overwhelming support of Indonesians, 35,000 of whom turned up for the fight at the Gelora Bung Karno Soccer Stadium in Central Jakarta.

It certainly did no harm that Ali’s opponent was a Dutch national.

“Lubbers clearly was a representation of Dutch colonialism and the Indonesian people were energized to see their political victory being repeated in the ring,” sports writer Julio Rodriguez wrote in Sports Matters: Race, Recreation, and Culture.

Ali returned the favor to his Indonesian supporters by winning the fight after 12 rounds.

The fight, which was an exhibition bout, was a cause for celebration in Indonesia, a rare sporting event that allowed Indonesians to enjoy a party. “Back then, two boxing bouts a year were a lot. [Ali’s victory] was truly a celebration, for us common people,” recalled sports broadcaster M. Nigara, who said he watched the match on the only TV channel, state-owned TVRI, in a public viewing near his house in Central Jakarta.

Nigara, who later became one of the country’s boxing commentators, said that he was relieved that Ali had finally departed to meet his maker. “Ali used to call himself ‘The Greatest’, which he later corrected as soon as he converted [to Islam]. Ali regarded his illness as a dialogue with God — and now the dialogue has ended,” he said.

On Saturday, the death of Ali, the former heavyweight champion known as much for his political activism as his boxing brilliance, triggered a worldwide outpouring of affection and admiration for one of the best-known figures of the 20th century.

Ali, who had long suffered from Parkinson’s syndrome, which impaired his speech and made the once-graceful athlete almost a prisoner in his own body, died on Friday at the age of 74.

US President Barack Obama, the first African-American to reach the White House, said Ali was “a man who fought for us” and placed him in the pantheon of civil rights leaders along with Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.

“His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail,” Obama said in a statement. “But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.”

In Kinshasa, the city where he battled George Foreman in the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” — a city that was then part of Zaire and is now the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo — the fight is remembered as much for its political symbolism as for Ali’s tactical brilliance in beating his hulking opponent.

Ali “was an African. He was a Congolese,” David Madiawi, a salesman on Kinshasa’s Avenue de Commerce, said on Saturday. “He came to Congo to return to the land of his ancestors.”

Foreman said Ali was one of the greatest human beings he had met. “No doubt he was one of the best people to have lived in this day and age. To put him [solely] as a boxer is an injustice.”

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