By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

 

I WAS stunned and saddened by the news that the football game tragedy in East Java’s Malang City, Indonesia last October 2 was marred by a stampede that killed 131 people.

The talk now in the world of sports describes the disaster as the deadliest in football history. I was stunned because nobody expected that to happen. It not only spoke ill of the capability of the Indonesian government to host sports events but also the utter failure of its law enforcers to implement crowd control measures. The decision of the police security to indiscriminately fire huge amount of tear gas inside the stadium triggered the deadly stampede that resulted in the deaths of 131 spectators, including two police officers and a five-year old among 17 children.

Who wouldn’t be saddened by it since losing a member of family alone in a stampede is traumatic enough, consider what’s it’s like to 131 families. I can imagine how the distressed family members feel, unable to understand the loss of their loved ones especially of their children in such an event. Yes, the negligence and irrational response of Indonesia’s police in particular, in trying to control the unruly crowd by the firing of tear gas on the crowd. The rabid and emotional cheering and taunting of fans in football competitions are to be expected but the police misread and misjudged the situation. The police were obviously not prepared for the seeming unruly conduct of fans. On seeing the police firing tear gas, the fans panicked and scampered, running to the exits, pushing, trampling over others while those hit directly by the tear gas fell gasping for air to breathe.

The video footages of riots in the aftermath circulating on the social media also showed people cursing policemen who were holding riot shields and batons pushing them off. But this did not stop the rioters from burning vehicles including a police truck, leaving the streets look like a battlefield. The reports also said that the stadium can comfortably accommodate 38,000 spectators only to hear the management admit that around 42,000 football fanatics were allowed inside for added profits.

Informed of the incident after a thorough investigation, this prompted Indonesian President Joko Widodo to kick out the police chief of the city from his post including nine members of his team and possibly face a dismissal in service if found guilty. Meanwhile, the responsibility of others , including the stadium management is still being determined. I doff my hat to Pres. Widodo, who for his political will to make those responsible for the deadly stampede accountable. He also suspended all football games in the country for at least a week especially between team Arema FC against arch rival Persebaya Surabaya.  Indonesia has already a history of violent encounters between the two warring teams and fans.

To Indonesia and like the Latino countries, Europeans and Middle East states, football (or called ‘soccer’ in some other nations) is unquestionably their number one favorite sport, unlike us which is basketball. Football here is not even one of the top five favorite sports among Filipinos. Basketball, boxing, billiards, lawn tennis and cycling are the top five. In our province alone, no organizer dared to conduct an inter-town/city or even school football league except in the five sports.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. EXODUS 23: 8

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