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Nov 7, 2009 Tennis diplomacy on the table in Bali By Muhammad Cohen NUSA DUA, Bali - In 2006, Indonesia refused to send its top female tennis players to Israel for a match in the Fed Cup, an international team tennis competition for women. (See Indonesia faults on tennis diplomacy, May 13, 2006) Indonesia is a secular country with the motto "Unity in Diversity", but it has the world's largest Muslim population among its 240 million people and no diplomatic relations with Israel. Fearful of giving offense to Islamic radicals, the government put the kibosh on the Fed Cup trip. This year, Indonesia's resort island of Bali is hosting the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour's year-ending Tournament of Champions. Israel's Shahar Peer, ranked 31st in the world, is among the qualifiers for the US$600,000 event (with a potential $1 million bonus for the winner) that runs through Sunday. Peer has been unable to play in some WTA events in Arab countries, including this year's Dubai tournament, where she was denied a visa. But she played in her first match of the round robin competition in Bali on Thursday, beating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 7-6 (4), and putting Peer in the running for the $200,000 first prize. If the Mohammedans won't come to the mountain, then the mountain - or at least a stone from it - can come to the Mohammedans - or their closest neighboring compatriots. Peer's visit may mark a first step in the sports diplomacy trail famously blazed by US and Chinese ping-pong players 38 years ago. Strange brew "Politics and sports should be separate," Peer said after her win in Bali. "But if I can help anything that has to do with politics for Israelis, I'm happy to step up. I feel like a representative of Israel. We are very small country that makes a lot of noise around the world." Peer has been on the Israeli Fed Cup team eight times, but, ironically, was not a member in 2006 due to commitments to military service. "It was really disappointing," she said of Indonesia's decision not to visit Israel, even though special arrangements were in place for the Indonesian team to secure visas at Bangkok's airport. Peer's 2009 campaign started with political furor. Playing in January, during Israel's attacks inside Gaza, she faced noisy demonstrations for several days while advancing to the quarterfinal of the year's opening tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. "I'm not the government of Israel and I'm not representing Israel as a politician," she told reporters then. "I'm a tennis player and that's what I represent now." The 2008 Olympic champion, Russia's Elena Dementieva, who beat Peer in the Auckland quarterfinal, said, "I'm sure it was a tough day for her to due to her situation in her country. She is a very tough player." Denied in Dubai In February, Peer was denied a visa to Dubai, after being assured of receiving one. "Dubai hurt me professionally and personally," said the 22-year-old. "I was playing [the week before Dubai] in Pattaya City [Thailand] and I made the semi-final, so I had momentum. And it's a $2 million tournament." The five-time WTA tour winner said, "It didn't start as an easy year, but it's finishing the right way." Once she qualified for Bali, Peer never considered skipping the event. "Right away, I knew I was going to go. Why should I not be able to play when other players can play?" Peer praised the Indonesia government for not following the example of Dubai, even though Indonesia doesn't recognize Israel. "I really appreciate that Indonesia has let me come here to compete. I hope other countries can see what Indonesia did and that [visa problems] will not happen to anyone else." After being in Bali for five days, Peer said, "I have only positive things to say about this country." Don't go alone After checking with WTA officials about safety issues, Peer decided not to visit Bali alone - she came with her family, arriving several days ahead of the tournament. Israeli passport holders entering Indonesia via Bali average less than three per month, so the five members of Peer's clan juiced those numbers. "I feel like I'm half on holiday already," Peer said. "Yesterday we went to Kuta to see the sunset. We're planning to do some sightseeing while we're here, once the tournament is over. We'll go to Ubud, to see the volcano and the rice fields." She said she found the people in Bali to be "very kind, very calm." But while Peer commended Indonesia's hospitality as extraordinary, tennis officials are trying to portray the situation as routine. "Shahar Peer applied for an entry visa to Indonesia in order to compete in the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali," the WTA press office said in response to an inquiry from Asia Times Online. "The WTA, along with the tournament and Indonesian Tennis Federation, were diligent in making certain that visas for Ms Peer and her family were approved. There were no problems; it was simply a matter of going through the visa process." Play by the rules "There's a system that all the non-diplomatic countries have to go through," tournament director Kevin Livesey explained. "You have to apply through the Foreign Ministry with the necessary sponsor letter and other documents. We went through the system and we got the approval." Tournament officials know the process well because Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan, another government that Indonesia doesn't recognize diplomatically, has played in Bali several times, including last year when she partnered Peng Shuai to win the doubles title here. "The Immigration [Department] people couldn't have been more helpful," Livesey said regarding Peer's visa. Asked whether things would be different if the tournament was held in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital in the Muslim heartland of Java, rather than Hindu-majority Bali, Livesey smiled, shrugged and said, "What do you think?" The Indonesian Tennis Federation - known by the Bahasa Indonesia acronym PELTI - said it supported Peer's participation in the Bali tournament. "PELTI understands that tennis is a professional sport where players are not representing their country but playing on their own behalf," PELTI chairwoman Martina Widjaja said through the federation's press office. "Therefore Shahar's participation is strictly as a professional tennis player, and there is no need to mix it with political matters." Widjaja added that the federation had wanted to play Israel in 2006. "PELTI was ready to send its team to the Fed Cup. Unfortunately, permission to play on behalf of the country was not granted by the Indonesian government. Hence, PELTI had to abide by the decision of the government." If Indonesia draws another Fed Cup date in Israel, Widjaja said, "The situation could be similar, but we don't know. It depends on further developments." Perhaps Peer's successful visit to Bali will be a positive development, helping normalize relations between the two countries, at least on the sporting level. Sometimes it takes racquets, a net and a ball to get politicians moving. Former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen told America's story to the world as a US diplomat and is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie. Follow Muhammad Cohen's blog for more on the media and Asia, his adopted home. (Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing.) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
