The story of Bung Karno Orders Indonesia to Reject Against Israel for the sake of Palestine

The story of Bung Karno Orders Indonesia to Reject Against Israel for the sake of Palestine

The issue of the rejection of Israel's participation in the U20 World Cup in Indonesia by a number of officials and politicians reaped polemic. 

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo became one of the officials who also voiced rejection of Israel's presence. 

According to Ganjar, this refusal is a form of shared commitment in supporting Palestinian independence. This was also the mandate of President Sukarno. 

"We already know Bung Karno's commitment to Palestine, both voiced at the Asian-African Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Conference of the New Emerging Forces. So yes, we will follow his message," said Ganjar, Thursday (23/3/ 2023). 

The Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, also expressed the same attitude, who rejected Israel's presence because it was not in accordance with Indonesian political policies. 

"We request that the Minister adopt a policy to prohibit teams from the State of Israel from competing in the Province of Bali," said Koster in his letter. 

Meanwhile, football observer Akmal Marhali reminded all parties not to mix football with any kind of politics, both within the country and between countries. 

He hopes that parties with interests will stop riding the U20 World Cup to seek public attention. 

"Now this should be a warning to our politicians who are taking advantage of the World Cup stage to seek public sympathy, which in the end will harm many parties, including Indonesia," said Akmal. 

Reject against Israel

Soekarno when he became chairman of Chuo Sangi-In or the Central Advisory Council during the Japanese occupation. 

Soekarno when he became chairman of Chuo Sangi-In or the Central Advisory Council during the Japanese occupation. (Wikimedia Commons)

Long before the recent act of rejection by officials and politicians, history once recorded the Indonesian national team refusing to compete against Israel in Sweden's 1958 World Cup qualifiers. 

This rejection occurred when Indonesia's opportunity to qualify for the World Cup was only one step away. 

This all happened at the behest of Bung Karno as a form of solidarity with Palestine. 

Quoted from jambi.tribunnews.com, in a speech, Bung Karno openly defended Palestine at that time. 

"As long as the independence of the Palestinian nation has not been handed over to the Palestinian people, then as long as the Indonesian nation has stood up to challenge Israeli occupation," he said. 

Because of this, Soekarno also ordered that the Indonesian national team not compete against Israel in the 1958 World Cup Qualification round. 

The reason is, if Indonesia served Indonesia to get tickets to the 1958 World Cup, it would be tantamount to recognizing Israel. 

Failed to qualify for the World Cup

Indonesia finally withdrew from the 1958 World Cup qualifying round. Even though it can be said, the Indonesian football team was quite respected at that time. 

Indonesia has even been nicknamed the 'Asian Tiger' because of its achievements being one step towards the World Cup. 

In addition, Indonesia is also very likely to qualify for the World Cup for the first time after independence. 

Because, throughout the qualification, at that time Indonesia won with a score of 2-0 against China in the first leg. While in the second leg Indonesia lost with a score of 4-3. 

Indonesia was also declared entitled to qualify for the next round because it was superior on aggregate and met Israel, which at that time was the champion in the West Asian zone qualifiers. 

However, because Indonesia refused to play against Israel, Sweden's ticket to the 1958 World Cup had to be lost. 

Even Bung Karno's decision at that time, not only refused to fight Israel in the 1958 World Cup qualifiers, Bung Karno also banned Israel from participating in the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta. 

Indonesia refused because it did not have diplomatic relations with Israel and Indonesia refused to grant visas to Israeli athletes and officials at that time.