AUGUST 24 — Teenager Khairul Jantan won the SEA Games’ 100m sprint this week. One gold medal for Malaysia.
About a fortnight ago, American Justin Gatlin won the World Championship in 9.92 seconds. Which is 0.46 seconds, or almost half a second quicker than Khairul.
In global sprinting terms, the achievements are a world apart. The SEA Games champion’s time would not have won gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Yet, the SEA Games and all its champions like Khairul, and the other participants are priceless to themselves and to the region.
The SEA Games is our games, and it is the source of pride for all Asean citizens.
It brings us together as an archipelago, and lets us revel in our separate patriotism in a way neither the Olympics nor World Championships can. It’s our private party.
And we can cry if we want to—and the waterworks flow like the Mekong on the winner’s podium.
It may be crude, but a regional meet allows Asean nations to celebrate wins rather than take stock of their chasm with the rest of the global sporting giants.
Competitive
Whatever the standards, individuals would still want to win.
Even if the standards differ. Asean boys and girls do compete. There are events where it is world class—badminton, takraw, squash, diving and hockey—and then some lagging far behind, like athletics.
Overall, while our competitors are aware of the gaps with the world, they still compete hard in the SEA Games. And some move up from it, as in Singapore’s Joseph Schooling who won an Olympics gold by beating the greatest Olympian ever, Michael Phelps.
In the blue riband events, all the countries invest time and energy, and their finest do put on a show, as witnessed by the intensity during the athletics’ sprints, swimming sprints, men’s football and gymnastics.
Everything is thrown on the line and the prospect of victory is very real.
Asean athletes compete all year round, but at these games they stand a chance to win.
Home comforts
There is no doubt home teams do better, or best.
It is a chance to be overall medals champions, and nations grab at it with gusto. Up to 1997, before the Asian economic crisis which ended among others the Suharto administration, Indonesia was perennial winners of the overall title. The wholesale dismantling of Indonesia’s state sports apparatus, made a region rub their hands in glee.
But even before or after the Indonesian years of dominance, hosts have tried to get a head start.
It’s a step by step process.
It begins with axing sports they suck at. Filipinos have no interest in squash, Cambodia won’t fancy netball and Vietnam is not in love with lawn bowls, for instance.
Second, to add the total medals available in sports they do excel in.
Third, add sports they are certain to top. Philippines asked a region to pick up the martial arts “Arnis” before it could spell it, Vietnam was quick to follow suit and offer “Vovinam” when it was their turn and Myanmar has been in-fighting so long they brought in Burmese Chess (Actually a variety of chess games: Chess 960, Asean Chess and Transfer Chess).
That’s not actually the maddest addition. That goes to the Vietnamese who introduced fin swimming—like mermaids, and uh, mermans—as a separate category in 2003.
And the final advantage, scheduling. Khairul was ahead of silver medallist Eric Cray, but the Filipino had to run the 400m hurdles an hour before. Hosts can order events and days to their maximum benefit. Malaysia is not the first and won’t be the last to do so.
The rule for preferred sports would be subjective sports like combat and finesse. It will be in the hands of judges.
Diversity along the way
Though, the sports have generated unintended diversity. Vietnam is ranked second in Pencak Silat for the region, not bad for a country which has little tradition in a Malay/Indonesian martial art.
Petanque is a sport I rather not pronounce or play, and its cousin Lawn Bowls is certainly a retiree’s sport. Several South-east Asian countries had to pick up these and other sports because it matters to their neighbours.
A massive addition is the recalibration and reconnecting through specific sports. In the first few decades, Sepak Takraw was a two-horse race between Malaysia and Thailand. Thereafter, Indonesia and Myanmar have broken the duopoly, as to the nature of the game.
There were variants of takraw in the region, for example Sepak in the Philippines and Chinlone in Myanmar, and these have been drafted into the sport. The region now owns the slew of takraw-type games and reminds the region the common heritage shared within Asean.
Pride without prejudice
As pointed at the start, only at the SEA Games all our countries show up as major powers, and party as equals.
If you ask me, the biennial SEA Games is the best thing to have emerged from 50 years of Asean.
We are not a custom union, and politics is a big no-no in the grouping. The countries came together to avoid a land grab among the members, smoothen border disputes and find economic synergy.
But the solid idea of an archipelago materialises poorly in controlled synergy.
We are different but the same, in many ways.
Without the SEA Games, for the average citizen of the region, it would be difficult to imagine our common fate, inseparable.
These athletes, for the duration of the games and beyond help the six-hundred-plus million people visualise Asean.
We can wait to catch up to Gatlin, as long as we chase his shadow together.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
