Asia: Gamesmanship

The Western world clings fondly, and fairly successfully, to the ideal that athletic rivalry between nations should tran scend political differences. At the fourth Asian Games in Djakarta last week, Indonesia's President Sukarno tried to have the best of both worlds — and dealt supra national sportsmanship in the Far East a possibly fatal blow.

When the Asian Games were started eleven years ago, their aim was to foster good will among nations of all political, racial and religious backgrounds. After the third Asiad in Tokyo in 1958, mercurial, left-leaning Sukarno successfully lobbied to hold the fourth in Djakarta in hopes of boosting Indonesia's prestige. To aid his chances, the Russians built Sukarno a $17 million stadium.

They might have saved their money. By last week, as crowds of 100,000 cheered 1.300 athletes from 17 participating nations in spanking-new Senayan Stadium, the games had stirred more animosity and anguish than amity.

"Sneaky Chinese." Conspicuously absent were Nationalist China and Israel, both accredited members of the Asian Games Federation. Neither nation, as it happens, is recognized by Indonesia's government, which generally sides with the Arab nations and Communist China in international disputes. Red China had pressured Sukarno for months to exclude Formosa; the Arab bloc did its best to convince Big Bung (brother) that it would be a diplomatic embarrassment for a Moslem nation like Indonesia to play host to Jewish athletes. To keep the two countries out, Sukarno used some gold-medal gamesmanship of his own.

Both Nationalist China and Israel received official invitations to the games. But when the Chinese received their packet of identity cards, which were to serve also as entry visas into Indonesia, they found only blank pieces of cardboard.

Cabled inquiries from the Chinese brought the bland answer from Djakarta that the oversight would be investigated. When no further word was heard, a Chinese official flew into Djakarta to settle the matter. No sooner had he landed than he was mysteriously warned that his life was in danger; he hotfooted it home on the next plane. Indonesia's Foreign Minister Subandrio then announced that Nationalist China had been excluded from the games because of "the sneaky attempt of a Chinese sports official to slip into the country and disrupt the games." Come-Home Cables. Israel did not even receive blank cards. Djakarta's explanation: "Too many cards have been sent out, and an investigation is now proceeding." After that, repeated cables brought no response, and international telephone calls were invariably cut off. The Indonesians deadpanned: "Faulty communications." The Israelis finally got the message. Protested an Israeli official: "It's like sounding the starter's gun for a race, then tripping the runner."

Indonesia's tactics brought a blast from the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which canceled its sanction, costing the games their international status. The I.A.A.F. warned that any athletes who took part in them might lose the right to compete in the 1964 Olympics. Because an Indian official had backed the Israeli protests, Indonesian commerce officials were instructed not to enter into any new trade agreements with India.