Sumber : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/16/focus/9914516&sec=focus
THE SEA Games are supposed to be all about regional solidarity and friendship, nurturing goodwill through sports.
But those worthy principles were for, and from, another era — an era when there was greater trust among nations and men, a greater sense of honour and integrity.
All that has changed; with progress has come distrust and deceit, hypocrisy and bigotry.
Sportsmanship and fair play have no chance when politicians, governments, sports bodies and officials speak not what they mean. Case in point: the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia.
The jingoism that has dominated the proceedings has made the event one of the most distasteful of the series, a nasty deviation from the ideals of the SEAP Games to foster closer ties and understanding among neighbours.
When Thailand hosted the first SEAP Games in December 1959, it truly was a Goodwill Games, one that saw athletes from Burma (now Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Thailand and Vietnam engaging in honest competition without spite or acrimony.
The Games grew in size and stature with the addition of Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei and later Timor Leste.
In 1977, the SEAP Games evolved into the SEA Games. The competition became more keen but remained largely true to the tenets of sports — of fair play and honesty.
But then, as these mostly newly-independent nations grew, so did their misguided sense of nationalism and pride.
These then became the overriding essence of the Games — one-upmanship, brinkmanship, bragging rights and humbling thy neighbour.