Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Netizens riot after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prohibits Indonesia from hosting Olympic the impact of the denial of visas to Israeli athletes at the 2025 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
The IOC Executive Committee issued four decisions resulting in the cancellation of Israeli athletes’ visas to Indonesia. One of them is prohibiting Indonesia from bidding to host the Olympics.
“Ending all forms of dialogue with the Indonesian National Olympic Committee (NOC) regarding the holding of the Olympics, Youth Olympics, Olympic events or conferences in the future until the Indonesian government provides adequate guarantees to the IOC that they will allow access to Indonesia for all participants, regardless of nationality,” said the IOC’s official statement.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Apart from that, the IOC also prohibits international federations from giving hosting slots for international championships to Indonesia.
The IOC views Indonesia’s action in rejecting Israeli athletes at the 2025 World Gymnastics Championships as a form of discrimination that is not in line with sporting principles.
The four IOC decisions sparked mixed reactions from netizens. Most condemned the IOC’s decision to ignore Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
“You are a disgrace to the world. Russia is ostracized because they kill civilians, but Israel kills whoever they want. It’s clear who supports you. We, free people, will do anything to make the world forget about the Olympics, so that you don’t have a penny. Shame,” said one netizen.
“Shame on you, IOC. You didn’t mind banning Russia and Belarus from the Olympics. But now, when Israel is doing it, suddenly you want to ‘separate athletes from their country’? If they choose to represent a genocidal country, they should be treated accordingly,” said another netizen.
One of the netizens believes that they don’t mind parting ways with the IOC and calling for the Games of New Emerging Forces (Ganefo) which were born in the era of President Sukarno.
“We don’t care because we have Ganefo,” said one account opposing the IOC.
Ganefo is an international championship for developing countries that was created in the era of President Sukarno to compete with the Olympics. The first edition was held in Jakarta in 1963 and Phnom Penh in 1966.
(June/June/Thu)
