Strong Spirit, High Energy

Like most big international sporting events, the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia is also about urban makeover, tourism and culture.

- Taufik Darusman

Indonesia is pulling all the stops to make the 18th Asian Games (August 18-September 2) a spectacular event, with the government and the private sector joining forces to build and renovate sports facilities and athlete villages in Jakarta and Palembang.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), in 2014, appointed the two Indonesian cities as hosts. It will be the second time, since 1962, that Indonesia hosts the Games, which will hold 40 sports branches, 67 disciplines, and 463 activities featuring 11,000 athletes from 45 countries. At least 3,500 media representatives are expected to be on hand to cover the event. The Games’ tagline, “Energy of Asia”, says the organizers, underscores the “strengthening spirit of the Games, participated in by multicultural nations shining for the world to see.”

Jakarta’s sprawling Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports complex, whose 56-year-old main stadium was designed by engineers of the then-Soviet Union, has been refurbished to be the center of all action. Add to that are magnificent new swimming pools and tennis courts. They will all complement the futuristic $50 million-velodrome for cycling, futsal, basketball and wrestling, which is connected to the affluent Kelapa Gading residential area by a 5.8km-Light Rail Transit (LRT) train network. Nearby stands a new $30 million-equestrian facility. In short, Sukarno, Indonesia’s first leader who presided over the 1962 Games, would have been proud of it all.

The capital city has gone into Games mode. Office buildings are awash with banners and paraphernalia reminding Jakartans that the government is going all-out in making the Games a festive occasion. To the delight of pedestrians, the city’s main Sudirman-Thamrin thoroughfare has been revamped with broad and sweeping sidewalks and much needed greenery.