Tennis diplomacy on the table in Bali
By Muhammad Cohen
NUSA DUA, Bali - In 2006, Indonesia refused to send its top female tennis
players to Israel for a match in the Fed Cup, an international team tennis
competition for women. (See
Indonesia faults on tennis diplomacy, May 13, 2006) Indonesia is a
secular country with the motto "Unity in Diversity", but it has the world's
largest Muslim population among its 240 million people and no diplomatic
relations with Israel. Fearful of giving offense to Islamic radicals, the
government put the kibosh on the Fed Cup trip.
This year, Indonesia's resort island of Bali is hosting the Women's Tennis
Association (WTA) tour's year-ending Tournament of Champions. Israel's Shahar
Peer, ranked 31st in the world, is among the qualifiers for the US$600,000
event (with a potential $1 million bonus for the winner) that runs through
Sunday. Peer has
been unable to play in some WTA events in Arab countries, including this year's
Dubai tournament, where she was denied a visa. But she played in her first
match of the round robin competition in Bali on Thursday, beating Magdalena
Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 7-6 (4), and putting Peer in the running for the
$200,000 first prize.
If the Mohammedans won't come to the mountain, then the mountain - or at least
a stone from it - can come to the Mohammedans - or their closest neighboring
compatriots. Peer's visit may mark a first step in the sports diplomacy trail
famously blazed by US and Chinese ping-pong players 38 years ago.
Strange brew
"Politics and sports should be separate," Peer said after her win in Bali. "But
if I can help anything that has to do with politics for Israelis, I'm happy to
step up. I feel like a representative of Israel. We are very small country that
makes a lot of noise around the world."
Peer has been on the Israeli Fed Cup team eight times, but, ironically, was not
a member in 2006 due to commitments to military service. "It was really
disappointing," she said of Indonesia's decision not to visit Israel, even
though special arrangements were in place for the Indonesian team to secure
visas at Bangkok's airport.
Peer's 2009 campaign started with political furor. Playing in January, during
Israel's attacks inside Gaza, she faced noisy demonstrations for several days
while advancing to the quarterfinal of the year's opening tournament in
Auckland, New Zealand. "I'm not the government of Israel and I'm not
representing Israel as a politician," she told reporters then. "I'm a tennis
player and that's what I represent now."
The 2008 Olympic champion, Russia's Elena Dementieva, who beat Peer in the
Auckland quarterfinal, said, "I'm sure it was a tough day for her to due to her
situation in her country. She is a very tough player."
Denied in Dubai
In February, Peer was denied a visa to Dubai, after being assured of receiving
one. "Dubai hurt me professionally and personally," said the 22-year-old. "I
was playing [the week before Dubai] in Pattaya City [Thailand] and I made the
semi-final, so I had momentum. And it's a $2 million tournament."
The five-time WTA tour winner said, "It didn't start as an easy year, but it's
finishing the right way."
Once she qualified for Bali, Peer never considered skipping the event. "Right
away, I knew I was going to go. Why should I not be able to play when other
players can play?"
Peer praised the Indonesia government for not following the example of Dubai,
even though Indonesia doesn't recognize Israel. "I really appreciate that
Indonesia has let me come here to compete. I hope other countries can see what
Indonesia did and that [visa problems] will not happen to anyone else." After
being in Bali for five days, Peer said, "I have only positive things to say
about this country."
Don't go alone
After checking with WTA officials about safety issues, Peer decided not to
visit Bali alone - she came with her family, arriving several days ahead of the
tournament. Israeli passport holders entering Indonesia via Bali average less
than three per month, so the five members of Peer's clan juiced those numbers.
"I feel like I'm half on holiday already," Peer said. "Yesterday we went to
Kuta to see the sunset. We're planning to do some sightseeing while we're here,
once the tournament is over. We'll go to Ubud, to see the volcano and the rice
fields." She said she found the people in Bali to be "very kind, very calm."
But while Peer commended Indonesia's hospitality as extraordinary, tennis
officials are trying to portray the situation as routine. "Shahar Peer applied
for an entry visa to Indonesia in order to compete in the Commonwealth Bank
Tournament of Champions in Bali," the WTA press office said in response to an
inquiry from Asia Times Online. "The WTA, along with the tournament and
Indonesian Tennis Federation, were diligent in making certain that visas for Ms
Peer and her family were approved. There were no problems; it was simply a
matter of going through the visa process."
Play by the rules
"There's a system that all the non-diplomatic countries have to go through,"
tournament director Kevin Livesey explained. "You have to apply through the
Foreign Ministry with the necessary sponsor letter and other documents. We went
through the system and we got the approval." Tournament officials know the
process well because Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan, another government that
Indonesia doesn't recognize diplomatically, has played in Bali several times,
including last year when she partnered Peng Shuai to win the doubles title
here.
"The Immigration [Department] people couldn't have been more helpful," Livesey
said regarding Peer's visa. Asked whether things would be different if the
tournament was held in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital in the Muslim heartland of
Java, rather than Hindu-majority Bali, Livesey smiled, shrugged and said, "What
do you think?"
The Indonesian Tennis Federation - known by the Bahasa Indonesia acronym PELTI
- said it supported Peer's participation in the Bali tournament. "PELTI
understands that tennis is a professional sport where players are not
representing their country but playing on their own behalf," PELTI chairwoman
Martina Widjaja said through the federation's press office. "Therefore Shahar's
participation is strictly as a professional tennis player, and there is no need
to mix it with political matters."
Widjaja added that the federation had wanted to play Israel in 2006. "PELTI was
ready to send its team to the Fed Cup. Unfortunately, permission to play on
behalf of the country was not granted by the Indonesian government. Hence,
PELTI had to abide by the decision of the government."
If Indonesia draws another Fed Cup date in Israel, Widjaja said, "The situation
could be similar, but we don't know. It depends on further developments."
Perhaps Peer's successful visit to Bali will be a positive development, helping
normalize relations between the two countries, at least on the sporting level.
Sometimes it takes racquets, a net and a ball to get politicians moving.
Former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen told America’s story to the
world as a US diplomat and is author of
Hong Kong On Air,
a novel set during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal,
financial crisis, and cheap lingerie. Follow
Muhammad Cohen’s blog for more on the media and Asia, his adopted home.
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