Garuda on my chest

L-R: Firman Utina, Bambang Pamungkas & Muhammad Roby.
This appears in the Tuesday December 28, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.

Garuda on my chest.

by rick olivares

“Garuda, di dadaku. Garuda kebanggaanku. Kuyakin, hari ini pasti menang!”

To wear the national colors is an honor they say. But for the Merah Putih, it isn’t only a source of pride. There’s so much more riding on their shoulders.

Timnas (Tim Nasional) is the symbol of hope in a country of 235 million people. In a few short weeks, they have united the country (even those who have jumped on the bandwagon) that has been routinely torn apart by political struggles and daily battles with corruption. Now does that sound familiar, Philippines?

Indonesia is a former Dutch colony yet they fancy themselves as the English Premier League of Southeast Asia. The national team, prior to the 2010 Suzuki Cup, has been viewed as a bunch of underachieving primadonnas. But on the cusp of its first international trophy since 1991, they have been given some latitude in terms of their attitude. The players have bought into Alfred Riedl’s system. But for how long more so now that they lost the first leg to a suddenly sharp Malaysian team 3-nil.

There has been much debate on whether the strategy of the Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia (or PSSI the Football Association of Indonesia) of naturalization of Cristian Gonzales, an Uruguayan national, and Dutchman in Irfan Bachdim. Does their inclusion mean that the local talents aren’t good enough that they need to beef up their roster with a pair of recruits not to mention having two Austrians on their coaching staff? And there are at least five more Indonesian-Dutchmen ready to wear the red and white at anytime.

The PSSI has seen the success of its former European colonizer, the Netherlands, in the last World Cup where Bert Van Marwijk’s squad had three players of mixed race in Ibrahim Afellay (who is half Morocaan and plays the midfield for FC Barcelona), Gregory Van Der Weil (the Ajax Amsterdam defender whose family hails from Curacao that is off Venezulean), and Hedwiges Martinez-Maduro (the Valencia defender whose father is from Aruba). Like Spain, the Dutch finally cracked the finals. The two countries have for decades produced some of the best footballing talent but when playing for flag and country, they never went anywhere that is until the last two years when Spain became European and World champions.

The triumph of Spain is because of their grassroots development and the style of one-touch passing with tight triangles formed in each attack that leads to possession and support. But their current set up is a powder keg with several key players of Catalan origin.

With the Catalan region making noises after South Africa that it would still pursue independence from Spain the national team is possibly on the brink of disarray.

PSSI may also want to take a close look at what is going on with France who were also World Cup (1998) and European champions (2000). The Les Bleus U-19 team are the European champions yet the grassroots development has seen a different generation of players who ultimately shamed France in the World Cup in South Africa.

Alain Finkielkraut, a French essayist and professor at Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, has been controversial for his brutally frank comments about the state of French football. It was he who described the 2006 edition of Les Bleus as “black, black, and black.” It was a departure from the “black, blanc, and beur” (black, white, and Arab) description that was hung on the 1998 World Cup champions who were a perfect example of the country’s multiracial image.

After the fallout of the 2010 World Cup, Finkielkraut said that France had morphed “from the Zidane generation to the scum generation.” Those words ignited a firestorm of controversy and it once more put the essayist on the defensive who claimed that he was referring to the “me-first” attitude of a the new immigrant population.

Naturalization, an offshoot of globalization, is here to stay. It is hard to claim that one country is pure in its aims or even in its football team. Malaysia itself is a hodge podge of ethnic lines and cultures.

For Indonesia, the Suzuki Cup and their dreams of an international football trophy, are down to one game. There is concern about those jumping off the bandwagon after seeing the Merah Putih winning all five home matches en route to the finals. There has been widespread concern that naturalization is a set back for the PSSI and a detriment to the homegrown program.

The answers to that are long and are even theoretical. Let politics and policy take a backseat for now.

Suffice to say for Garuda is that when someone puts on that red and white, no matter where they are from, the task at hand is to support the squad whether there is a naturalized player or a player of mixed-lineage on the squad.

“Garuda, di dadaku. Garuda kebanggaanku. Kuyakin, hari ini pasti menang!”

Translated, that means, “Garuda, on my chest. Garuda, my pride. I believe you will win today.”

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For my Indonesian friends Aditya and Val. I've been telling Aditya that I have been a fan of Irfan and Bambang especially the latter. What a footballer! Aditya I met during Liverpool's friendly with Singapore and Val, we became friends while covering Smart Gilas in Jakarta several years ago.

By the way, "Garuda" is a mystical bird in Hindu lore. It is also the symbol not just of the country but Timnas.