Tired and thirsty, Nur Amalia sat on the sidewalk near Gate 4 of the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex on Wednesday holding an empty water bottle and fanning herself with the edge of her black headscarf.

When she woke up that morning, she had one plan in mind and that was to watch her idols Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto and the Indonesian men’s badminton team play in the finals against China later in the evening. But her day did not go as planned.  

“My friends and I have been waiting here since 6 a.m. Many people had already lined up when we arrived. At 8 a.m., the ticket booth opened, only to close 10 minutes later. They told us all the tickets were sold out. I can’t understand how the tickets could go so fast,” the 22-year-old told The Jakarta Post as she sat just 10 meters from the ticket booth.

After four days of action, spectators’ complaints about the ticketing systems in Jakarta and Palembang, the Asian Games’ co-hosts, remain unresolved.

For Nuriati, whose son coaches the national bowling team, the main problem was the ticket price, which at Rp 100,000 (US$6) “is too expensive for most people in Palembang”.

“Why must people spend such a lot on money on the tickets,” she said on Wednesday.

Nuriati added that the organizers should give discounted prices to the families of national team members, including coaches.

A heated argument between an angry crowd and Games volunteers in front of the badminton ticket booth on Wednesday marked the ticketing chaos. Hundreds of people, including Nur, who had waited in line for hours, had to return home empty handed. Some claimed to have been there even earlier to make sure they could get their tickets.

Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) spokesperson Danny Buldansyah said 80 percent of the tickets for the badminton finals, amounting to 6,400, were sold online and 20 percent, or 1,600, on the spot. The remaining seats in the sports hall, which has a capacity of 7,600, were allocated to VVIP guests, the media and athletes.

“For tonight’s badminton finals, all the tickets have been sold out. But I don’t understand how the tickets sold on the spot could finish that fast,” Danny told the Post.

On that same day, sitting on the cold floor of the Aquatic Arena, Ari, 39, and his family chanted “In-do-ne-sia” to pump up the home team’s swimmers who were competing in the heats.

“I bought 11 tickets online a month ago, but I never thought we would end up sitting on the floor,” he pointed at his nieces who were sitting next to him, waving Indonesian flags.

Ari said when he and his family members arrived five minutes after the heats began, no seats were available. “But, thankfully, my nieces are okay with it. Sitting on the floor, which is closer to the pool, is actually pretty cool.” But not many people are as cool as Ari.

Volunteers at the arena have had to face many people who were angry about the ticketing system.

“I don’t understand the ticketing system, but this problem happened because there were more people than available seats,” a volunteer said.

Angela, 40, of Hong Kong concurred. “The system is really bad. People are sitting on the floor. They have nowhere else to sit,” she told the Post.

She is in Jakarta to support her daughter who is competing in the Games. “I have been coming to this stadium from day one and the system has not improved at all. You must do something about it, fast.”

In an emergency move, INASGOC named another e-commerce platform, loket.com, to join blibli.com as the Games’ ticket organizer. Originally, INASGOC appointed local ticketing management firm PT Pison Tickettech (KiosTix) to handle ticketing, but it failed to fulfill its responsibility.

Danny said the KiosTix system could not keep up with the demand for tickets.

While visiting the venues on Monday, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Saba said he was aware of the ticketing problems.

“After the success [of the opening ceremony], there was a great demand for tickets. This is a positive sign for us because more people want to attend the Games. We are now trying to solve the ticketing problem with the organizers,” he told the media.

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