I woke up late on Sunday, as usual, to find my Twitter timeline flooded with updates of Thomas Cup.
For those of you who may not know, Thomas Cup is the Wimbledon of badminton – a male only championship; the female version of this Cup is called Uber Cup.
Badminton has long been a heroic tradition among Indonesians as we plowed through hard times hanging on to the game as one of the few things that save our faces before international scrutiny.
It is not at all strange to see enemies unite watching Thomas Cup or strangers animatedly discuss the game as they watch the championship via television in public places.
You get all the adoration you can take if you win the Thomas Cup or Uber Cup, sometimes even the long-sought citizenship.
As corruption and government inaction continue to thrive, it is only natural that Indonesian people look for heroic figures to restore their faith in their fellow citizens.
We lost the Thomas Cup today but people are hailing Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, as well as Simon Santoso who fought the last games against China today, to land Indonesia as runner up this year.
Winning may be everything to some people but for now, we are proud of the good fight Indonesian Thomas Cup team gave! Thank you, guys!!!
Mindfield 3.0 