The Jakarta Post December 19, 2006 Nation's flop As the 15th Asian Games in Doha were brought to a close on Friday, some of the 13,500 athletes, coaches and officials left for home with big smiles, but many others had tears running down their cheeks. Most of the 131-strong Indonesian team would belong to the latter, although they could try to hold their heads high, given they completed the two-week competition with a modest collection of two gold medals, three silvers and 15 bronzes. It was Ryan Lalisang and Taufik Hidayat who came to the rescue, saving the country from embarrassment by winning a gold medal each in the ten-pin bowling and badminton competitions. Indonesia fared far below China, which displayed its might and collected 164 golds, 88 silvers and 63 bronzes, and fellow East Asian sporting giants South Korea and Japan. It seem unfair to compare Indonesia with the three countries, which fielded world-class athletes who are warming up for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Nevertheless the Doha Asian Games will remain a bitter memory for Indonesia. The third most populous country in Asia, Indonesia ranked behind tiny Singapore and other Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam in the medals standings. The national team were quick to offer apologies to their fans. Badminton player Luluk Hadiyanto failed to win the men's doubles gold medal with Alvent Yulianto and tae kwon doin Juana Wangsa Putri had to end her career in defeat. If the Asian Games results are an augur of the performance of Southeast Asian countries in the regional sporting meet in Bangkok next year, Indonesia will finish sixth, a record low. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his concern about the country's poor showing when he stopped in Doha in a show of support for the Indonesian team on his way home from a state visit to Moscow. He asked the athletes to work harder to help Indonesia restore its old dominance of the SEA Games. Indonesia's failure at the Asian Games reflects the poor sports development, if there is any, of the country. The country's founding fathers laid down a platform for sports development, which should begin in families and schools. Aspiring to an Indonesia that could join the world's top 10 not only in sports but also in economies, the then sports ministry gave priority to eight sports in schools -- athletics, swimming, gymnastics, soccer, badminton, basketball, table tennis and volleyball. The ministry also classified sports into recreational, achievement and professional sports. Those national leaders fully understood sports would familiarize children with competition and fair play. Children would learn how to win and to accept defeat. Founding president Sukarno also reminded the nation that sports would not be good for the public health, but would also help children build character and keep them away from crime and drugs. But now, with the country still struggling to recover from the 1997 economic crisis, we seem to have forgotten about the development of our human resources. Everybody is talking about single digit inflation, wooing foreign investment, or efforts to defuse the effects of soaring fuel prices. Little has been done to improve sports development. This lack of appreciation for sports has made parents think twice before allowing their children to nurture a career in the industry. It is true that the government is working together with the private sector to provide a token of appreciation to medal winners. State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Adhyaksa Dault has raised money from state enterprises to provide cash bonuses to medalists, along with 100 houses to be given to gold medal winners. The bonus is a good start, but more needs to be done. The government must thoroughly evaluate the national sports development program as part of the education process. If it has limited ways to arrange a new program, why not turn to the methods of our old leaders. If providing sports facilities is too difficult, the ask the private sector to do the job. Why not make sports development part of the Corporate Social Responsibility program? Indonesia needs to promote and instill a sports culture, which will help the country regain its pride in the sports world, as well as in other international fields.
Yah, it's quite sad & embarrassing indeed, isn't it??... (rest of article snipped for brevity)... ...and to a certain extent, laughable as well..... anyways, that's just the reality of it...and badminton/PBSI is def. not much better..
Oh you can't compare Brunei with Indonesia. In terms of population, no, in terms of talent, no. Indonesia used to be one of the most powerful sporting nations in SE Asia. Brunei has never been in the running at all! Despite all its shortcomings, I think Indonesian badminton has done relatively well compared with other sports in the country.
I know Loh! If Brunei did better than Indonesia, the indoneian ministry of youth and sport ought to sack the lot of them. But thankfully Brunei didn't get a medal let alone overtake indo!
Well, Indonesia and Thailand always tops Malaysia, Singapore and other SEA nations in the Bi-Annual Sea Games. I suppose most of their tally comes from stuff like athletics and etc where by SEA standards they are way superior. However this just do not translate to Gold in ASIAN & WORLD standards. Malaysia, Singapore and etc however have learned to focus on sports where they can compete at the World Stage. Bowling, Badminton, Artistic Gymnastics, even the horse riding stuff, archery and shooting has been identified. Perhaps Indo is following suit with their Gold in Bowling an indication of things to come from this Nation of the South East. TBBMBB(N)
But apparently Indonesia did much better in the previous Asian Games and perhaps their standing was also ahead of many of its Southeast Asian neighbours.
Yes, Loh. I have to assume you are correct. They must have been doing better previously. But we must have a better look first. Where did their Gold & other Medals come from??? did they haul 2-3 golds from Badminton previously? Or did they get Gold in Sepak Takraw and Sepak Raga? I'm very sure almost non came from the Highly competative tracks & Field, swimming, and gymnastics. TBBMBB(N)
KOMPAS today's edition also write about INA's sport failure in its special-report. 2 titles that describe INA's sport condition in this year : - Look in the mirror to China (Doha AG) This report contains CHN's succesful at international sport-arena continuously vice-versa INA dump far away. I think if INA's Sport Ministry plus KONI never do something to improve sport-quality, sooner or later (that I'm afraid) INA will becoming 'the sick-man of South-East Asia'. With population approx.230 million people (No.4 in the world), it's clearly very embarrasing result -- standing at #22 (2-3-15) in Doha. What will happen in Beijing/08 & Guangzhou/10?? Worst scenario probably zero GOLD from that two multi-sport event. OoO,can't imagine that! - More drowned by China's domination (badminton) Again, INA's bdm achievement didn't show good progress. Along 2006, TH only got 2 titles (INA-Open & Doha AG Gold) meanwhile the doubles (XD-MD) also gave unstable performance mainly in major tourneys. Don't talk about WS, must be long time to wait 'New Susi' comes. What's wrong w/ INA's bdm?? It's a classic question but honestly must recognize there are loads of problems that need express cure. Overall, can say INA's Sport have stayed in emergency level! So Sad but this is the fact...
clely, success in sports often reflects on country's well being. I had predicted this outcome many years ago (posts in BF somewhere ). After downfall of suharto plus the asian crises in the late 80's, i saw INA as the last country to recover and reality reveal that. Nothing against the indo people at all, just the corporate executives and politicans that are holding back progress, plus some other issues
It's true enough.. ..hehe, you meant late '90s??. .Yah, basically, the Asian crisis, which lead to the fall of Soeharto and the tragedy in 1998, really pulled down & dragged the whole Indonesian economy down the tube. The main target in all those were the many chinese-Indonesians(w/ businesses), many of whom played important role esp. in the economy during Soeharto's yrs. Some of them left the country and although some of them have returned & regained their status, the country is still in recovering mode. Some would wonder, what if the tragedy of 1998 never happened?. Would INA still maintain its grip on the world scene, esp. in badminton??.. And in a way, all of those affected the INA badminton scene. (sorry guys if there's a bit of "politic" talk in this post).
A bit off topic-I think i may have found.. ...or perhaps now relive that thread, cooler..confused: Is this the one?? http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1006??..If it is, then wow, IT IS an old thread... Hmm, from reading some posts, i have a hunch you're probably an.........Indonesian after all, or if at most a Malaysian??..
hehe, i got the time frame wrong, i mistimed my gut feel on the asian crises period. U asked where will INA be if asian crises didnt happened, i say it will set up a even bigger crash.
