Finding comfort in Olympic solidarity

AT the time of writing, Malaysia has won two bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik repeated their feat with a nerve-racking save of four match points in their second set against their Danish opponents, while Lee Zii Jia won his first Olympic medal by defeating Lakshya Sen of India.

We are of course proud of everyone in our badminton squad, and now we will be cheering on our other athletes in the remaining days of the games, including Pocket Rocketman Azizulhasni Awang. He previously won a bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and a silver medal in Tokyo in 2020, so the logical thing for him to do is to realise our nation’s first gold medal this time.

As ever, supporting those flying the flag for our nation has seen an outpouring of patriotism from Malaysians of all backgrounds, led by compatriots in Paris bedecked in baju Melayu, armed with kompang and yearning to sing Negaraku.

It has come to the point that suddenly my colleagues are playing badminton, in a departure from the recent uptake in the trendy sports of padel and pickleball (which I might add as the adviser to the Negri Sembilan Pickleball Association, was being keenly played at the Royal Sungei Ujong Club in Seremban long before it became beloved of social media influencers!).

All this Olympic excitement coincided with the arrival of my cohort of Eisenhower Fellows to Kuala Lumpur: 23 of us convened in Philadelphia in 2013 and spent six weeks visiting individuals and organisations relevant to our work in our home countries – in my case, policymakers and think tanks – and every so often we reunite, incorporating work and cultural elements.

Their first stop was the headquarters of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), and I had the women’s doubles badminton semi-final match on the office television as my colleagues from Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines trickled in.

Pride of Malaysia: Soh (left) and Chia reacting after winning a match in Paris. — Bernama

Before the official hellos began, they were all cheering loudly for our pair.

In my welcoming speech, I remarked how, with Malaysia becoming chairman of Asean next year, it was fitting that South-East Asian solidarity was so powerful (the Indonesians politely forgot their defeat to our ladies in the group stage).

We brought the group out to walk around the old heart of Kuala Lumpur, and the next morning saw them hear from Think City about ongoing plans to rehabilitate our urban spaces. Then it was off to rural spaces, specifically Seri Menanti where I showed them around Istana Lama, before an afternoon of horseback riding and archery at Ladang Alam Warisan, followed the next day by activities at Homestay Kampung Lonek.

Despite my attempts to showcase Seri Menanti Valley’s MD2 pineapples, they got more excited by the durian.

The weekend concluded in Putrajaya, where questions of federalism and constitutional government flowed smoothly from the history lessons I delivered in my ancestral home. Indeed, the way in which we have managed to marry traditional and modern institutions of governance was a constant point of curiosity and admiration from the fellows, particularly when discussing moments of political turbulence experienced in each country.

And despite the unifying nature of sport, there are still plenty of people for whom it is not a priority, even something to deliberately ignore.

Just weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games, there were riots in Paris following the French legislative elections (which did not bring the results that president Macron hoped for). In the United Kingdom, there have been violent protests fomented by far-right groups in response to the false belief that a Muslim was responsible for the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance studio in Southport in which three children were killed.

And in the United States, the nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee has galvanised people on both extremes of the political divide there. For them, reclaiming their flag requires concerted political action and agitation, not supporting athletes wearing outfits featuring their national colours.

I was getting worried that excitement about the Olympics seemed rather slow to begin this year, and comments about the official outfits were rather negative at first (though I love our Mondrian-esque badminton tops).

It was always at sporting events that “Malaysia Boleh!” was chanted the loudest, and it would be a sign of great concern if large numbers of Malaysians became apathetic about those trying their best to bring glory to our country.

Thankfully, as the Games approach their conclusion, I’m happy to say every Malaysian I’ve spoken to, from the royal town to the federal capital, is unequivocally enthusiastic about our athletes.

Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin is president of the Negri Sembilan Squash Association. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.