Indonesians and Malaysians don’t like each other very much. In fact, they dislike each other so much that “Hate Malaysia” and “Hate Indonesia” were even trending topics on Twitter last year after Indonesia lost a football game to their counterparts, that involved laser pointers. Now Indonesian students are being paid to support their archenemies in the Southeast Asia Games.

The Jakarta Globe tells it as it is:

Thousands of Indonesian students have been pulled from their school classes to do the unthinkable — cheer for bitter rivals Malaysia and other nations during the Southeast Asian Games.

After initially being plagued by building delays and an uneasy build-up to the competition, Indonesia is keen to show the region that they can host a successful event.

Some students recruited to cheerlead at the games have even been given flags and t-shirts to help show their support for the opposition.

Junior high school teacher, Samsidar, said: “We have to be a good host, therefore we must also support the guest teams.”

A student, Ayu Napsadew, continued:

Our job is to support Malaysia, therefore we shout ‘Malaysia, Malaysia!’ at each of their games.

Guest supporters have been furnished with cash, meals and transportation to and from the sport venues for the games that run until November 22 and see 11 nations competing for the numerous gold medals on offer.

Receiving little publicity outside the Asiatic region, the event remains a great source of national pride between the competing nations, and it remains unclear whether Indonesians supporting Malaysians are doing so cynically or not.

[Source: JakartaGlobe]