Rudy Hartono

Believe it or not, there was a time when mention of Indonesia conjured up images of something other than pollution or terrorism. That time was coterminous with the career of badminton star Rudy Hartono — a dazzling eight-year spell from 1968 to 1976, during which Indonesia would be freely associated with agility and brio, not brown haze and bombs. Granted, badminton does not have the massive followings of soccer or cricket. But to its devoted fans there is no sound sweeter than the swish of a goosefeather shuttlecock. Just ask the Indonesians, who arguably are the most fanatical followers of all.

Before the Chinese-Indonesian Hartono, born Nio Hap Liang, took the badminton world by storm, only one other Indonesian, Tan Joe Hok, had won the coveted All England title — the game’s equivalent to Wimbledon. The search was quickly on for another homegrown champion and in Surabaya, the industrial capital of East Java, the young Hartono was being groomed for glory. He trained on concrete at a nearby railway station during the day, and under kerosene lamps at night, under the watchful eye of his father — a player of average ability who channeled frustrated ambitions through his son. “Back then, athletes became successful because of their parents,” explains Hartono, now 57 and living in Jakarta, where he works for an oil company. “There was no organization or club, much less sponsorship.”

While competing in municipal tournaments, the teenage Hartono caught the eye of national scouts. From that moment on, his rise was the stuff of legend. In 1967, he was part of the Indonesian squad that won the Thomas Cup. The following year, aged 19, he struck out on his own. With the whole country watching back home, Hartono defeated Malaysia’s Tan Aik Huang to bring the All England title back to Indonesia. It galvanized the nation. “I remember listening to the match on the radio when I was growing up in Central Java,” recalls Clara Joewono, a director at Jakarta’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “After he won, all the kids in Pekalongan exploded on to the streets with their rackets.”

Hartono’s playing style, characterized by its ferocious power, earned him another seven All England titles, six of them consecutively. More than that, to a country now riven by religious strife, separatism and economic woes, he was, for eight glorious years, a symbol of unity and pride — badminton’s boy king, through whom Indonesia ruled the world.