Sports in the shadow of the coup: a historical qualitative study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v70.116698Keywords:
Sports history, G30/PKI, coup, presidential decrees, Indonesia, authoritarianismAbstract
Introduction: Sports in Indonesia have a long history as part of national development and the formation of national identity, especially from the independence revolution to the reform era. During the reign of President Soekarno, sports were interpreted as an ideological tool to form “revolutionary humans” in line with the political vision of anti-imperialists. However, the September 30 Movement events in 1965 (G30S/PKI) marked a turning point in the national power structure, including the sports sector.
Objective: This study examines the impact of post-coup politics on the stability and development of national sports by placing sports as a political arena integrated into the dynamics of an authoritarian state.
Methodology: This study uses a historical qualitative approach with a document analysis method. The primary sources come from official state archives. The study utilized hermeneutic methods and source criticism to assess the authenticity, historical context, and ideological bias of documents such as presidential decrees, legal products, and archival media coverage.
Results: The results show that the post-coup regime utilized sports as a tool for social engineering by integrating the military into sports institutions, limiting civilian-based organizations, and directing sports as a symbolic stage for state legitimacy.
Conclusions: The recommendations of this study emphasize the importance of a more political and critical exploration of sports history, as well as the need for decentralization and democratization of sports institutions in the present as a reflection of the legacy of authoritarian control in the past. These findings provide a foundation for policymakers to design inclusive and equitable sports policies grounded in historical understanding and aimed at countering past authoritarian legacies. The implications of this study not only broaden the perspective in the study of sports history but also provide a basis for analysis for policymakers to formulate inclusive sports policies that are oriented towards social justice.
References
Aykin, A. G. (2024). Military Coups and Their Effect on Sports : The Case of Turkey. Bulgarian Historical Review, 52(1–2), 159–177.
Brannagan, P. M., & Giulianotti, R. (2015). Soft power and soft disempowerment : Qatar , global sport and football ’ s 2022 World Cup finals. Leisure Studies, 34(6), 703–719. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2014.964291
Connell, J. (2017). Globalisation , soft power , and the rise of football in China. Geographical Research, 56(1), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12249
Connell, J. (2018). Fiji , rugby and the geopolitics of soft power . Shaping national and international identity. New Zealand Geographer, 74(2), 92–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/nzg.12184
Fogg, K. W. (2020). Indonesian socialism of the 1950s : from ideology to rhetoric. Third World Quarterly, 42(3), 465–482. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2020.1794805
Gündoğan, I. (2024). Institutional Change in the Governance of Chinese Football : The Era of ‘ Top-Level Design ’ Under the Leadership of Xi Jinping. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 41(4), 333–354. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2024.2353281
Guthrie Shimizu, S. (2013). Japan ’ s sports diplomacy in the early post-Second World War years. International Area Studies Review, 16(3), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/2233865913504866
Keppy, P. (2024). The making and taming of the veteran in 1950s Indonesia. War & Society, 43(4), 364–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/07292473.2024.2375881
Li, J., Wan, B., Yao, Y., Bu, T., Li, P., & Zhang, Y. (2023). Chinese Path to Sports Modernization : Fitness ‑ for ‑ All ( Chinese ) and a Development Model for Developing Countries. Sustainability, 15(4203), 1–17.
Rahman, M. A. (2024). An Argumentative Discourse Analysis of the Newspaper Editorial “ The 9 / 30 Tragedy .” The Indonesian Journal of the Social Sciences, 12(1), 333–354. https://doi.org/10.26811/peuradeun.v12i1.956
Ryan, G. (2021). Smart Sanctions , Hollow Gestures , and Multilateral Sport : New Zealand – Fiji Relations and the Politics of Professional Rugby , 1987 – 2011. 33(1), 124–150. https://doi.org/10.1353/cp.2021.0005
Trotier, F. (2016). The Legacy of the Games of the New Emerging Forces and Indonesia ’ s Relationship with the International Olympic Committee. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 33(12), 1321–1340. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1281801
Wainwright, D. (2021). Athletics , Exhibitions and Exchanges : American Sport Diplomacy in Iran , 1955 – 1959. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 38(8), 811–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2021.1941898
Webster, D. (2016). Sports as third world nationalism: The games of the new emerging forces and Indonesia’s systemic challenge under Sukarno. Journal of American-East Asian Relations, 23(4), 395–406. https://doi.org/10.1163/18765610-02304007
Winward, M. (2018). Capture From Below : Civil–Military Relations During Indonesia’s Anticommunist Violence, 1956-66. Cornell University Press, 106, 111–136.
Woolgar, M. (2019). A ‘ Cultural Cold War ’? Lekra , the left and the arts in West Java , Indonesia , 1951 – 65. Indonesia and the Malay World, 48(140), 97–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2019.1682316.
Woolgar, M. (2023). Ethnic politics , the Cold War and sub-national dynamics : the Indonesian Communist Party , the ethnic Chinese minority and anti-Chinese activities in West Java , 1949 – 67. Modern Asian Studies, 57(6), 1959–1983. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X22000592.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Imron Nugroho Saputro, Tandiyo Rahayu, Soejatmiko Soejatmiko, Sulaiman Sulaiman, Nur Subekti, Amanda Eka Rismawati
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
