National Sport Stadium and AFF Cup 2010

On December 29, 2010, Gelora Bung Karno, the main Sports Stadium located in Senayan, Jakarta, was full of enthusiastic spectators watching the grand final of Asean  Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.  The match was very decisive for Indonesia as their favorite team was soundly defeated by Malaysia in the first leg which was held in Kuala Lumpur three days earlier. 

At that night the sports stadium bearing the nickname of Soekarno, the then president who initiated to build the area, looked grandiose and impressive. It was flooded by the football spectators and all of its 90,000 seats were full dominated by red costumes yelling to support the Indonesia soccer team. The sports stadium was built in the middle of Senayan sports center measured by  137 hectares. In the new order era (1966 – 1998), when de-Soekarnoism was very intense the name was temporarily changed into Stadion Utama Senayan.

The construction of the sports center and other burdening prestigious projects which were started in the early 1960s put a lot of additional burden to the Indonesian economy which was already worsened. 


Soekarno as the first president and also the founding father of Indonesia believed that as a young nation, Indonesia should give priority to the nation and character building as the precondition to becoming a great nation. 

Albeit the weakness of Indonesia economy,  he decided to build a Grand National Sports Center and declared that Indonesia was ready to host the Asian Games by 1962. Many member countries such as Japan and China were skeptical as Indonesia at those days didn’t have any good infrastructure yet.

Many criticisms accusing the project as a megalomaniac one wasting money which was needed badly for more urgent development of public welfare.  Even Khrushchev, the then  Soviet Union Prime Minister, was more pragmatic and kindly reminded Soekarno to prioritize the welfare of his people. However, Soekarno had a strong determination to continue the construction. The project was funded by a soft loan from the Soviet Union amounting to US$12.5 million. Although facing many obstacles, the project was finally completed on schedule.  

Now, fifty years later, on the night of December 29th, the sense of nationalism of the Indonesians spectators tremendously surged. Indonesia has never had a strong national soccer team. Since the AFF Cup establishment in the 1990s, Indonesia has been able to reach the final for 3 times, but so far never won any of them. Strengthened by two naturalized foreign players who have a close attachment to Indonesia, and under the coach Alfred Riedl who imposes a very rigorous discipline, for the first time, Indonesia has a better football team which they are proud of.

Indonesia team had successfully stepped into the final, but in the first leg of the final match held in Kuala Lumpur three days earlier Indonesia was beaten by Malaysian team by three goals. 


The Indonesia team performance seemed very poor at that match but the matter became worse as during the match, the Indonesian goal keeper was bombarded by green lasers disabling him to concentrate. 

Following the incident, Indonesia sent an official complaint to Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is hoped that the AFC would not simply ignore the Bukit Jalil sport stadium's laser incident which directly disturbed  the guest players.   

Now in the second leg, Indonesian team won the match at score of 2 - 1 and should be happy to become as the runner up of the 2010 AFF Cup. It was unimportant whoever the champion was as far as it was a fair play. More importantly the Indonesian supporters and may be the whole  nation were united and forgot for a while their internal political quarrels. The sport has been proved to be  the vehicle for strengthening the nation and character building.

Jakarta Food Stalls and City Tax

The bag-pack visitors staying in Jakarta can live with less than US$ 15 (Rp 9,000 per US$) per day if they are willing to lodge in the modest inns similar to those at Jalan Jaksa, a foreigners’ favorite small street just around one mile south of National Monument, and dine at the food stalls scattering in Jakarta.

The food stalls are coined “warung Tegal” (Warteg) as most of the stalls are managed by talented people from Tegal (north coast of Central Java) for such small sidewalk gastronomic businesses that provide meals at affordable prices (less than US$ 2). The name has become generic as it is applicable to all similar food stalls of different tastes and menus regardless of the origin of the owners.

Most of the staple diets are generally simple composing of a piece of meat, soya bean cakes (tahu and tempe), vegetables, and of course a plate of rice. Fried rice and instant noodles almost always can be found, some serve kinds of dry foods, such as satay and curries. They serve snacks as well as fried bananas and typical drinks of Tegal clay pot tea. As for the customers, they should be selective and careful to observe the hygiene and cleanliness of the food stall.

Warteg is usually operated in rotations among family members every 3 to 4 months. Most of them usually do farming in their hometown while waiting for their turns. Today there are around 27,000 food stalls with the daily gross-income of a minimum of around Rp 400 thousand to survive. Most of the owners just rent small rooms or take an open space along the sidewalks. The food stall owners are usually incorporated in a Warteg Cooperative.

Some prospective Warteg owners obtain quite large income, which is apparent from their luxury homes built in their home town. It was the reason why the city government planned to tax them up for those who have the annual income minimum of Rp 60 million which has got the Jakarta House members’ endorsement.

The 10% food stall tax would certainly increase the food price which affects a lot of low-wage workers who frequently dine at the warteg. Another reason was that the food stall business is an informal one so no financial book-keeping is available and the buyers just pay in cash without getting a receipt of payment.

One of the observers on the public policy said that what the city government should do is intensifying the restaurant tax which has the potential to increase by hundreds billion rupiahs and aiding instead the small food stalls for their financial shortcomings (under the responsibility of Cooperative and Small & Medium Scale Business Ministry). 

The good news came at last as the governor agreed to postpone the bill signing upon the request of the Association of Tegal Community in Jakarta  because of the potential problems which might arise from such policy, bearing in mind that the food stall owners still have the obligation to pay the income tax whether in Jakarta or in their home town.