Reformasi, Antikorupsi, dan Perkembangan Sepakbola di Tiongkok

Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, banyak pihak yang melihat dengan takjub perkembangan sepakbola di Tiongkok. Saya masih ingat 10 tahun lalu, ketika saya pertama kali tinggal di Beijing, dan sering bermain dengan teman-teman dari Amerika Latin. Di lapangan sebelah tempat kita bermain biasanya juga diisi pemain asing. Tapi sekarang, lapangan bola di Beijing selalu dipenuhi masyarakat lokal. Dan jumlah lapangannya pun telah bertambah berkali lipat.

Belum lagi berita-berita terbaru mengenai pemain-pemain asing yang berkiprah di Chinese Super League. Bahkan tim favorit saya, FC Barcelona pun menemukan Paulinho di Guangzhou Evergrande untuk mengisi kekosongan yang ditinggalkan Neymar Jr. Dan ternyata, Paulinho jauh lebih hebat dari yang diharapkan, walaupun memang sangat sulit menggantikan seorang Neymar Jr. Setidaknya, pembelian Paulinho dari Guangzhou menunjukkan bahwa tingkat permainan di CSL sudah menjadi perhatian tim-tim di Eropa.

 

Nah, dalam artikel ini, saya ingin sedikit berbagi mengenai sepakbola di Tiongkok.

 

Sebagaimana organisasi-organisasi lain di Tiongkok, China Football Association (CFA) berada di bawah kendali pemerintahan. Secara spesifik, CFA berada di bawah naungan State General Administration of Sports, yang di Indonesia setara dengan Kementerian Pemuda dan Olahraga. FIFA mentolerir hal tersebut mengingat bentuk pemerintahan di Tiongkok, di mana segala aspek kehidupan penduduk dikontrol dan diawasi oleh Pemerintah.

 

CSL dibentuk pada tahun 2004 sebagai liga tertinggi sepakbola di Tiongkok untuk menggantikan Jia A League. Pembentukan CSL utamanya dikarenakan kegagalan Tiongkok pada Piala Dunia 2002 di Jepang-Korea, di mana Timnas Tiongkok kalah tiga kali dan tidak menghasilkan satu gol pun sepanjang turnamen.

 

Untuk dapat berpartisipasi dalam CSL, para tim diharuskan mempunyai manajemen yang professional, keuangan yang transparan, dan youth program yang dapat menghasilkan pemain-pemain lokal. Persayaratan-persyaratan ini diharapkan dapat mengangkat kualitas sepakbola di Tiongkok secara umum.

Namun demikian, upaya tersebut tidak membuahkan hasil yang diharapkan karena semakin banyaknya uang yang mengalir ke CSL justru membuat kompetisi semakin diwarnai kasus-kasus korupsi. Korupsi dan sogok-menyogok seringnya dilakukan oleh pejabat-pejabat daerah. Beberapa tindakan ilegal yang merusak citra CSL termasuk:

• Maraknya perjudian, terutama yang dilakukan oleh para pejabat lokal
• Pengaturan skor oleh pemilik klub, terutama untuk menguntungkan pejabat-pejabat lokal
• Sogok-menyogok untuk dapat mengirim pemain klub ke Timnas Tiongkok, yang sering dilakukan oleh pemilik tim lokal guna meningkatkan pamor klub.

Kasus korupsi dan sogok biasanya melibatkan pemain (utamanya para pemain bek dan kiper) atau pelatih. Hal ini dikarenakan gaji pemain dan wasit yang sangat rendah. Pelatih klub biasanya tidak tahu-menahu, dan sering menjadi pihak yang dirugikan karena kelakuan pemain dan wasit.

 

Dampak dari keterpurukan pesepakbolaan di Tiongkok adalah menurunnya interest masyarakat Tiongkok untuk bermain atau menonton sepakbola professional di negara mereka sendiri. Berbagai kegagalan Timnas Tiongkok juga menjadi bahan cemoohan masyarakat, yang tidak percaya bahwa dari 1,3 milyar penduduk Tiongkok tidak dapat dicari 11 orang untuk bermain sepakbola yang kompetitif, setidaknya di Asia.

 

Kondisi yang buruk ini mencapai titik nadir pada tahun 2009, ketika pemain-pemain Qingdao Hailifeng “tidak berhasil” membiarkan lawannya menang lebih dari empat gol. Kegagalan ini dikatakan akhirnya menyebabkan pemilik klub Qingdao Hailifeng rugi judi besar-besaran.

 

Melihat kondisi ini, akhirnya Pemerintah Pusat bertekad untuk memberikan perhatian lebih terhadap CFA dan CSL, dan melakukan reformasi internal yang progresif dan disiplin. Upaya ini secara individu dimulai oleh Presiden Xi Jinping, yang pada waktu itu masih menjabat sebagai Wakil Presiden RRT. Xi Jinping adalah penggemar sepakbola dan telah mengarahlan agar berbagai upaya sejak tahun 2009 dapat mempersiapkan kondisi yang kondusif untuk pengembangan sepakbola di Tiongkok pada saat Xi Jinping nantinya menjadi Presiden RRT.

 

Dengan tekad ini, maka dimulailah kampanye anti-korupsi di CFA dan CSL. Saat berkunjung ke Jerman pada tahun 2009, Xi Jinping mengatakan bahwa sepakbola di Tiongkok harus menjadi sumber kebanggaan nasional. Dua minggu kemudian, 16 pejabat CFA dan CSL serta pemain klub ditangkap polisi karena terbukti menerima atau memberikan sogokan.

 

Kampanye anti-korupsi di tubuh CFA dan CSL berlangsung dari 2009 sampai dengan 2012. Dalam periode tersebut, setidaknya 58 pejabat CFA dan CSL ditangkap dan dijatuhkan hukuman sampai dengan 10 tahun penjara. Beberapa pejabat termasuk dua orang mantan Ketua CFA, beberapa pemain Timnas Tiongkok ternama, dan seorang wasit di Tiongkok yang paling terkenal.

 

Kampanye anti-korupsi dilakukan baik oleh Pemerintah (melalui Kementerian Supervisi) maupun Partai Komunis Tiongkok (PKT). Hal ini dapat dilakukan karena segenap pejabat CFA dan CSL adalah pegawai pemerintahan dan fungsionaris PKT.

 

Sambil dilakukannya kampanye anti-korupsi, Pemerintah RRT juga mendorong partisipasi perusahaan-perusahaan swasta untuk mendanai klub-klub CSL. Perusahaan-perusahaan yang menanggapi dorongan Pemerintah termasuk Alibaba Group (sponsor utama Guangzhou Evergrande FC), Suning (perusahaan peralatan elektronik terbesar di Tiongkok, sponsor utama Jiangsu Sainty FC), dan SIPG (perusahaan manajemen pelabuhan, sponsor utama Shanghai Shanggang FC). 

 

Klub-klub juga melakukan pendekatan kepada masyarakat lokal, termasuk dengan menciptakan merchandising yang bagus, memudahkan pembelian tiket masuk, dan melakukan berbagai program kemasyarakatan. Dukungan para fans lokal menjadi salah satu tumpuan sumber keuangan bagi setiap klub. Secara umum, jumlah fans yang mengunjungi stadion setiap harinya meningkat. Begitu juga dengan jumlah yang menonton pertandingan-pertandingan via tv dari rumah.

 

Setelah menjadi Presiden RRT, Xi Jinping meneruskan niatnya untuk membenahi sepakbola di Tiongkok dengan menjadikan isu ini sebagai salah satu isu yang dibahas pada saat kongres nasional tahun 2013. Dalam pidatonya di hadapan para anggota National People’s Congress (NPC), Presiden Xi manyampaikan bahwa revitalisasi sepakbola di Tiongkok akan menjadikan Tiongkok sebagai negara olahraga yang kuat, yang merupakan bagian inti dari pencapaian China Dream yang dia visikan.

 

Pada tahun 2015, akhirnya NPC mengeluarkan 50-Point Plan terkait dengan revitalisasi sepakbola di Tiongkok. Beberapa target kunci adalah:

• Meningkatkan profesionalitas klub-klub CSL, dengan mendorong partisipasi perusahaan-perusahaan lokal dari berbagai bidang usaha sebagai sponsor klub
• Menciptakan basis yang kuat bagi pengembangan sepakbola dengan memberdayakan organisasi-organisasi sepakbola di tingkat grassroots serta sekolah-sekolah sepakbola
• Meningkatkan jumlah anak-anak di Tiongkok yang bermain sepakbola
• Membuka sekolah-sekolah sepakbola baru, yang jumlahnya diharapkan mencapai 20 ribu pada tahun 2020 dan 50 ribu pada than 2025 (saat ini jumlahnya masih 5 ribu)
• Mengucurkan dana ke sistem pendidikan agar menjadikan sepakbola sebagai salah program kurikulum pendidikan nasional
• Terus meningkatkan program anti-korupsi di CFA dan CSL, yang sejalan dengan kampanye anti-korupsi yang gencar dilakukan di berbagai tingkatan pemerintahan di Tiongkok saat ini
• Menciptakan kondisi yang kondusif untuk menarik kedatangan pemain-pemain dan pelatih-pelatih asing yang berkualitas

Reformasi dan revitalisasi CFA dan CSL juga akan dilakukan dengan secara pelan-pelan menjadikan CFA independen dari Pemerintah (sebagaimana harapan FIFA selama ini). Diharapkan CFA dan CSL nantinya akan diisi dengan professional dan berorientasikan bisnis. Artinya, CSL dan masing-masing klub anggotanya akan di-manage bagaikan perusahaan, dan harus untung secara finansial.

 

Selain itu, Pemerintah RRT juga telah mengundang IMG Worldwide Inc untuk me-manage CSL secara professional. Pemerintah Pusat masih mengawasi CFA dan CSL, tetapi keberadaan pejabat-pejabat pemerintahan dan PKT semakin dikurangi. 

 

Tiga target jangka panjang 50 Point Plan di bidang sepakbola yang diinisiasi Presiden Xi Jinping adalah: 1) membentuk basis yang kokoh bagi pengembangan Timnas Tiongkok yang kompetitif di ajang internasional, dan dapat masuk ke putaran final Piala Dunia; 2) menjadi tuan rumah Piala Dunia; dan 3) menjadi salah satu kandidat juara Piala Dunia

 

Misty Memories

The Garden of Evening Mists

Tan Twan Eng

 

Review

I have a new favourite writer: Malaysia’s Tan Twan Eng.

Such revelation came to me very early into my reading of Tan’s spellbinding novel, “The Garden of Evening Mists”.  It took me only the first six pages to recognize what a true gem I had in my hands.  I was immediately hooked on it, and feeling dizzy, Tan took me on a journey to the magical and mysterious setting of the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

The book centers on Yun Ling Teoh, a former Japanese prisoner of war, who has become a top Malaysian judge.  Yun Ling is suffering from a gradual loss of memory.  And in her efforts to fight this disease, she travels back to the place of her childhood.  A place where she experienced many life-changing events.  A place of violence, anger, hatred, betrayal, guilt, and sadness, yet one that is also capable of victory, perseverance, truth, peace, and joy.  A place where she lost love, loved ones, and almost her live.  Where dreams shadow living nightmares, and nightmares end live-long dreams.

The Garden of Evening Mists—and the surrounding backdrop of Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands—is where Yun Ling’s life intertwined with those of the other fascinating characters in the book.   There is Yun Hong, Yun Ling’s sister, who disappeared like many other “guests of the Sun Emperor”. There is Magnus Praetorius, the Transvaal adventurer who fled his homeland to build a new one in Malaysia, in the form of the Majuba Tea Estate.  There is also Tatsuji, a Japanese historian and former Kamikaze pilot, who lived to see the end of the World War II because of the sacrifice of his lover and commanding officer.  

And then, there is Aritomo, the Japanese Emperor’s former gardener.  He designed the Garden of Evening Mists, and in him, Yun Ling finds solace from the trauma of her imprisonment.  Aritomo is the embodiment of the novel’s misty mystery.  He is not only a master gardener, but also an artist capable of expressing fleeting beauty and impermanence.  And as the story builds up, Yun Ling discovers clues associating Aritomo with Japan’s conquest of Malaya.

The book also tells Malaysia’s tumultuous history.  From the Japanese invasion, and subsequent conquest, to the Malayan Emergency period, when the communists were bent on challenging not only the British rulers, but also other Malaysians (their own people) who could cross in their paths.  The book talks about Japanese war treasures, the Chinese community in Malaysia, and the marginalization of local indigenous tribes.  It also talks about the country’s capacity to heal from its deep historical wounds.

All in all, the book evolves around the role of memory in human existence, and the relationship between memory and forgetting.

What I find most enjoyable about this book is Tan’s attention to detail.  Not only that, but the way in which he crafts all the details into a string of beautiful sentences.  A hand imprint on an oakwood table, visible for only seconds after the hand is pulled back.  “The scent of pine resin sticking to the air, the bamboo creaking and knocking in the breeze, the broken mosaic of sunlight scattered over the ground.” Memories, like sandbar, cut off from the shore by the incoming tide, slowly becoming submerged, no longer there.

The book won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize. It was also shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize.  Indeed, these awards are merely indicative of the public’s reception.  But somehow, even these awards are incapable of describing the feelings and sensations that overwhelmed me during my many moments with this book.  

Life in Red

"Change" is the second Mo Yan book I’ve ever read, the first being a collection of short stories titled "Shifu: You'll Do Anything for a Laugh".  I have, however, seen two Zhang Yimou movies based on his stories: "Red Sorghum", and "Happy Times". Therefore, having read "Change" in one sitting, and enjoying it from cover to cover, I got the feeling that I should probably read more books by this Nobel Laureate (in Literature).  

The version of “Change” that I bought in Singapore's Kinokuniya (as my baby daughter lies asleep in her stroller just inches away from the bookshelves) was published as part of a series of books titled “What Was Communism?”  I think, being part of these series sorta reveals what the book’s story would be.

I’ve read many accounts of life during China’s super-communist periods of the 1960s and 1970s.  Many of these accounts talk about the brutality, senselessness, hypocrisy, impunity of actions carried out in the name of upholding communism in those periods.  Many more talked about the pain, grief, anger, and frustration the Chinese people in coping with the tragedies that befell them during those periods.

In describing his experience growing up as a small village boy in the 1960s, a member of the People’s Liberation Army in the 1970s, as a struggling writer in the 1980s, and a literary celebrity since the turn of the century, Mo Yan also paints a picture of a China in constant change.  A China that has become more and more driven simply by its people’s pursuit of money; a China whose buildings, like the people’s dreams, now reach for the sky.

But amidst all these changes, there are constants in the life of the Chinese people.  Continuity symbolized by the Gaz 51 trucks that had been the highlight of his school days, then becoming the vessel which first took him to Beijing, and later in life, the reminder of all the people who has entered, left, re-entered, and so on, in his life.  Continuity also came in the form of the “gift” he received as a judge in the 2000s; it seems that some things just never change in China, with or without reform.

Mo Yan writes with simplicity and tells his story like I would tell of my life during the oppressive rule of Soeharto.  Yes, life was tough, and yes, many suffered.  But life goes on, and we the people make best of whatever was in front of us.  We learn to appreciate the small things in life, laugh at the hint of a comedic episode, and appreciate things more than what they may actually be worth.  He doesn’t paint a rosy picture of life in China under communism; nor does he paint a picture with a bloody brush.

Indeed, Mo Yan has received numerous criticisms from peers at home and abroad for his unwillingness to bluntly challenge the communist government in China.  But from my perspective, Mo Yan’s ideological standing doesn’t lessen his value as a writer, a poet, a story-teller of the Chinese people. 

To many, Mo Yan may have not captured the anti-establishment angst that permeates the literary works of many great writers, anywhere around the world.  But, it would be silly to say that he has failed to capture voice of the people, when we know very well that not all express their sadness, pain, and frustration simply through anger.

Red China

My first in-your-face encounter with sex in China happened just a few weeks after I landed in Beijing.  And interestingly, I wasn’t even involved in this comedic episode. 

I was spending the evening at a friend’s place when at 9 o’clock some really loud banging came through one of the walls of the bachelor suite.  I listened carefully, and sure enough, there were cries from a guy and a girl. I smiled at my friend and shook my head, and we continued to watch TV.  At 10’clock, pounding sounds started to come from the apartment just above my friend’s.  I looked at him; this time he gave a laugh.  30 minutes later, sounds came from behind the wall adjacent to the toilet.  At midnight, they came from behind the kitchenette wall, the pots and pans hanging on it shaking.  And finally, to top it off, at 1 in the morning, I could hear two people making out in the corridor.  My friend woke up from his sleep and said to me, still with his eyes half closed: “Welcome to China”.

It’s true.  Whenever people discovered that I had been single throughout my 3.5 years stay in Beijing, they’d smile and say things like: “Must’ve been a whole lotta fun, huh…?”

Well, living in China was indeed a whole lotta fun.  The Olympics was fun.  Seeing pandas was fun.  Travelling to Urumqi, on the Silk Road in the western parts of the country, was also fun.  So was the icy-landscape of Harbin up north.  And many more escapades in this country of 1.3 billion people.  But, in all honesty, I never really had a chance to experience that “fun” China the others seem to refer to.

I’m not going to be a hypocrite. I’ve had my share of karaoke nights; although in all of them, I remember going home alone, in a taxi cab, trying to keep my dinner inside my stomach.  And yes, the red light salons were only a corner away from my apartment on the 4^th Ring Road, yet I always preferred to cut my hair on my own. 

On the subject of sex, it didn’t take long for me to understand that China is a country of paradoxes.  A place where lewdness and cleanliness co-existed.  Where the pure and filthy lived side-by-side.  Where tradition crashes head-on with modernity.

From the Beijing nightclub scene

This, among others, is one of the arguments in Richard Burger’s book, Behind the Red Door: Sex in China.  Writing as a journalist, nonetheless making numerous references to academic and literary resources, Burger delves into the history and present day nuances of sexuality in China.  Not only that, Burger also explores other issues related to sex: marriage, family, gender, homosexuality, etc.  For me, this book is an interesting narrative on the old and new China.

Among others, Burger elaborates on the One Child Policy, and its impact on China’s demographics.  How this policy has given rise to large numbers of infanticides, predominantly of female babies.  And how it has caused a gender imbalance among the population.  In a 2010 study, it was predicted that China would experience a bride shortage by 24 million in 2020.  When that time does come, I wonder from where would the Chinese men would start to find their brides?

Going through the book, I kept on highlighting sections after another, as I was introduced to new statistics, information and twists in better understanding China.  For example, did you know that in the first three months of 2011 there were around 465,000 cases of divorce in China? That means that during that period, there were around 5,000 cases of divorce per day!  This therefore begs the question surrounding many Chinese people’s claim of their country’s traditional perspective on marriage and family lives.

As well, did you know that there are at least 7 tiers of prostitution?  Starting with the top tier, “ernai” (or the second wife) to “xiaogongpeng”, who are basically lower level prostitutes serving migrant workers in shanties that dot the country’s many urban areas.  While prostitution was very much part of day-to-day lives up until the Qing Dynasty, the advent of communism stopped this business.  Just like communism’s view on religion, prostitution was seen as opium for the masses, and therefore must be crushed.

I enjoyed the book immensely.  The narrative flowed well, in simple English.  In particular, the book gave me much information on the different aspects of life that I never got to experience first hand while living in China.  This includes dating a local girl (let alone be in familial terms with any of them) or holding a membership at a lavish karaoke bar.

Indeed, to understand the country, it is hard not to study the issue of sex (and everything else on its tangent).  Because, for many, at the most basic issue is this, and an understanding of how it is understood and approached in China would provide a better perspective of the country and its people.

China is a country at the crossroads between tradition and modernity.  The dilemma that arises form this situation can be found in many aspects of the Chinese life. 

Locals and foreigners mix in the crowd

While rhetorically remaining strict on pornography and prostitution, both could be found within a mouse-click.  While government officials constantly preach traditional family values, we only need to look around to notice that these values have actually been turned on their heads. Most Chinese youth still dream of finding the right person to marry, have kids with, and raise a family.  But most of them are taking more time to marry, preferring to just co-habit with their respective partners well into their thirties.

Some say that this is the result of foreign influences on the Chinese culture.  At least this is the line that many Chinese officials like to expound.  However, as Burger elaborates, when we look into the history of the country, many of the vices associated to the western culture had actually existed in China previously, and in a very grandiose way.  Of course, Chinese Communism attempted to cleanse the people of these supposed “bourgeois habits”.  But even then, the many communist propagandists (including Mao Zedong himself) were sexual hypocrites.  As a result, when the country was shoved into the present-day globalization, these supposed vices seem to resurface with a vengeance.