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A staff in KBRI (Indonesia embassy) New Delhi laments about our embassy officials ignorant towards what has been achieved by his 16-year-old son in tennis. No appreciation of verbal kinds, not to say in terms of financial assistance, etc. On commenting to his complain I say that our officials abroad or in Indonesia are not known for their appreciation towards Indonesia’s best sons and daughters who stand out among the rest of the world in the field of sport or science.
And that lack of appreciation disappoints many outstanding sportpersons. Some of them went abroad not only for better financial gain but also for getting some kind of appreciation they truly deserve.
One might remember that Susi Susanti is the first Indonesian who gave Indonesia an olympic gold medal in Badminton. What she got at the time she won it? Taufik Hidayat, the badminton world champion, is the most recent case in which our best sportperson doesn’t get due recognition he truly deserves and then often tempts to go abroad.
In the field of science, social and applied science alike, the appreciation is getting worse and that makes some of our best persons reluctant to come back.
I don’t want to compare Indonesia with some developed countries where outstanding sportpersons and scientists got what they want: money and appreciation.
Let’s take a few example from our neighboring countries the condition of which is not far off from ours: India.
1. When an athlet got an olympic silver medal (bronze?) last year in shooting, what he got was plenty: (a) knight awards from government plus plenty of cash; (b) plenty of advertisment offers from many companies.
2. Football is “second class” sport in India. Yet, India’s football captain, Baichung Bhutia, got plenty of ads offers from soft-drink companies and special awards from government too.
3. Among top five adsvertisement stars, four are cricketers (cricket is the most favorite sport in India) and only one is actor and that’s Shakhrukh Khan.
Now, have a look at Indonesia. Almost all top ads stars are celebrities (model, acress, singers, etc) and none of them are sportpersons, not even our Taufik Hidayat, the best badminton player in the world.
All above cases only means that it’s we, government and people, who dont want to give a proper appreciation to our best and outstanding personalities and instead we give extravagant and too much adulation toward individuals whose niche and advantages are only in his/her physical appearance; not his/her brains.
In other words we are a nation who prefer to worship the cheap flesh rather than the meritious and precious brain. Or please correct me if I am wrong.