By Hafid Abbas, International Consultant at SEAMEO RETRAC, Ho Chi Minh, 2014
On July 11, State University of Jakarta (UNJ) again inaugurated its three new professors, all from the Faculty of Sports Science. They are Prof Dr Yusmawati, MPd, in the field of Physical Education Pedagogy; Prof Dr Johansyah Lubis, MPd, field of Physiology Exercise; and Prof Dr dr Junaidi, Sp.KO, Subs.ALK (K), field of Sports Medicine.
Even though the three new professors are from different study programs, they have worked hand in hand with all their colleagues and academic community at UNJ to advance their students achievement not only at the national, regional, but even at the world sport competitions. For example, at the 2018 Asian Games, Indonesia was at the 4th rank among 45 participating countries with 70 medals, 31 gold. However, UNJ students and lecturers contributed 12 medals, 6 of them are gold. If UNJ as a participating country, successfully gained 12 medals, its rank is at 17th, or surpasses 28 other countries. If UNJ is at the ASEAN level, its position is at the third after Thailand and Malaysia.
Johansyah himself was a Gold Medalist at the Manila SEA Games (1991) in the Pencak Silat branch
With such reputation globally, UNJ is likely one of the most reputable universities in the world in the field of sport achievements.
Interestingly to note that despite the three new professors at UNJ have different fields of expertise, in their scientific orations they raised the same interrelated common grounds issues in improving physical education and the promotion of sports development across Indonesia, as follows.
First, Johansyah has presented the Values of Olympism and Character Education in his oration. The point is how the universal values of Olympics are upheld and implemented not only in every sport competition at the Olympic arena but also in our everyday life.
Olympus is actually the name of the highest mountain in Greece, even in Europe, reaching 2.9 km above sea level, located between Macedonia and Thessaly, while Olympia is the city where the sport competition was held, since 2800 years ago.
In 2014, by chance on a road trip from Sofia to a number of cities across Bulgaria’s border with Kosovo and Greece, I crossed the region.
Olympism actually as a philosophy of life places sport as a vehicle for serving humanity (sport at the service of humanity). This philosophy is based on the interaction between physical fitness and mind which is expressed through actions that link between culture and education.
In Olympiad, students are taught to be sporty, never give up (excellent), be honest, respect each other, create a friendly atmosphere of life (friendship) with others through various activities to create world peace. If someone achieves a success or any achievement by cheating, bribery, or not being good, then the meaning is the same as failure.
Johansyah by quoting Onainor’s view (2019) further argued that Olympiad is related to the values of living excellence, such as: hard work to achieve the best achievements; fight to the end (never give up); focus on reaching achievements; keep learning to get the right process for the best achievement (no shortcut) ; and, maintaining a balance between physical fitness, motivation and mental strength.
Meanwhile, living respect, is reflected in: respect for oneself and others in terms of: differences of opinion; belief differences; differences in cultural diversity; differences in ethnicity or race and nation; fulfillment of human rights; and, one’s achievements; etc.
Living friendship that is reflected in everyday life, including values: friendship; empathize and sympathize with others; cooperation; mutual giving, serving; and, support each other.
The unyielding spirit, for example, was exemplified by Johansyah, at the Ekiden women’s Marathon relay championship in Fukuoka, Japan, Oct. 22 2018. During the running competition, a disaster occurred to runner Rei Lida (19) who landed wrongly which then broke her leg. Even though his leg was broken in the middle of the race, Rei still crawled 200 meters, in order to continue the race so that his friends would continue the race.
Such amazing Olympic values grow and take root in Japanese culture, for example the values of sportsmanship and honesty. For example, on March 1, 2021, the Reuters Newspaper reported that the Spokesperson for the Prime Minister of Japan, Makiko Yamada, the former Minister of the Interior, resigned because he was ashamed of being caught being treated to dinner at an expensive restaurant from a businessman. Also the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Seiji Maehara, also resigned on March 6 2011 after being exposed receiving a political donation from a Korean citizen, his neighbor of 50000 Yen or IDR 5.2 million.
Second, Yusmawati expressed her concern at the increasing number of children and adolescents who were not physically active, their development was not healthy. Especially at this time, physical education lessons at school are carried out for only two hours a week, and there are even schools that replace this subject with other material, for various reasons. This situation can interfere with the stage of development of children’s health and thinking abilities.
Therefore, learning based on the ability of the brain (neuroscience) as an educational system that involves the work of the nerves, so that the work of the brain and behavior are not separated, so that it automatically gives an important role in the domains of cognition, affection and psychomotor.
Learning physical education in elementary schools provides significant benefits for the brain and physical health of students leading to brilliant learning achievements.
It is interesting to remember the quote of Decimus Lunius, a Roman poet in the second AD: “Mens Sana in Corpore Sana”, if a person’s body is healthy, his mind and soul are also healthy.”
Finally, Junaidi in his scientific oration raised the issue of the Indonesian Sports Medicine World, its Achievements and Challenges. Sport, according to Junaidi, is a physical activity that has a set of rules and aims to achieve specific skill excellence (Malm et al., 2019). Sport is a systematic process, in the form of activities to develop physical and spiritual potential carried out by a person or group.
The human body is perfectly created to carry out various activities, including sport activities, but sometimes a person unknowingly engages in sport activities that are not in accordance with their physical abilities, causing injury. Management of sport injuries is the realm of sports medicine. Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, the treatment and prevention of sports-related injuries.
The field of sports medicine is also obliged to improve athlete performance together with head coaches and physical trainers. In its obligation to improve athlete performance, the duties of the field of sports medicine include improving athlete performance, which is carried out together with exercise physiologists, biomechanics experts, psychologists, nutritionists, sports masseurs, physical trainers and personal trainers.
One monumental work, Junaidi, in 2018, helped to initiate the establishment of the Jakarta High Performance Center (JHPC) clinic. JHPC is an injury recovery clinic which is a functional unit of KONI DKI Jakarta. JHPC also functions to maintain and improve the fitness of athletes, both injured and uninjured athletes.
Hopefully, with all these great achievements and legacies, with its three new professors, and with its new world class Sport Center facility, it would be an appropriate momentum if UNJ could initiate the establishment of a regional sports science education center to serve ASEAN in its way to move forward to be a world class university.