Rancak Media: Despite recently expressing his willingness to defend the Indonesian national team, Radja Nainggolan openly admitted that he cannot reconcile his deep-seated hatred for his father.
Nainggolan, a 37-year-old midfielder, previously declared his choice to represent the Indonesian national team was rooted in the profound respect he consistently receives from the nation’s passionate football fans.
However, this commitment to the country that gave him his Indonesian heritage doesn’t extend to the man who gave him that blood – his father. Nainggolan’s resentment towards him remains unwavering.
In an interview on Junior Vertongen’s YouTube channel, Nainggolan emphasized his decision: “Yes, I say it every day now, it’s not because I hate Belgium, as I went through all my youth football there. But because of the respect I get in Indonesia, I choose Indonesia 100 percent.”
He drew comparisons with other naturalized players. “If you look at Sandy Walsh, Ragnar Oratmangoen, they are just ordinary footballers in a big country,” Nainggolan noted.
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“The reality is, while they are skilled players, the immense respect they command there is extraordinary. For instance, Sandy Walsh had perhaps six or ten thousand followers – I don’t know the exact number. Now, since playing for the Indonesian national team, he has three million followers.”
“Oratmangoen experienced a similar surge in popularity. ‘They are good people, good individuals,’ Nainggolan added, ‘but the level of respect people give you there is so overwhelming, you’ll be swallowed by it.'”
Despite his willingness to represent the Indonesian national team, his ancestral homeland, Radja Nainggolan finds it impossible to extinguish the deep-seated animosity he holds for the man who bequeathed him his Batak heritage – his father.
The root cause of this profound resentment lies in his father, Marianus Nainggolan, who was responsible for Radja’s childhood being riddled with severe hardship and deprivation.
Nainggolan openly discussed his grim childhood experiences during an emotional interview on ‘Het Huis,’ a program aired on the Belgian-Flemish TV station VRT.
“Because of my father, we ended up in a social welfare center,” Radja Nainggolan recounted. “Thanks to the ‘Mothers for Mothers’ charity, we sometimes received bags of clothes and food packages.”
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Marianus Nainggolan abandoned Radja and his twin sister, Riana, when they were merely five years old, returning to Indonesia burdened with a mountain of debt.
Consequently, Radja and Riana were left in the care of their mother, who was forced to work tirelessly, often holding down multiple jobs, just to put food on the table.
“My mother worked constantly, then went to find extra money in bars,” Radja explained. “Sometimes I didn’t see her for two days.”
“That way, she could ensure we had money every day to buy food.”
“She did everything she could to provide everything my sister and I needed.”
“That’s why I hate my father so much,” he concluded.
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Summary
Radja Nainggolan menyatakan keinginannya yang kuat untuk membela tim nasional Indonesia, menyebutkan rasa hormat luar biasa yang ia terima dari penggemar sepak bola negara tersebut. Ia mencatat bagaimana pemain naturalisasi lain seperti Sandy Walsh dan Ragnar Oratmangoen mengalami peningkatan popularitas dan kekaguman yang luar biasa setelah bermain untuk Indonesia, tingkat penghargaan yang sangat ia hargai.
Namun, Nainggolan menyimpan kebencian yang mendalam terhadap ayahnya, Marianus Nainggolan, yang tidak dapat ia damaikan. Perasaan ini berasal dari fakta bahwa ayahnya meninggalkan ia, saudara kembarnya, dan ibunya ketika mereka masih kecil, menyebabkan mereka hidup dalam kesulitan ekonomi yang parah. Ibunya terpaksa bekerja tanpa henti untuk menghidupi mereka, yang memupuk kebencian mendalam Nainggolan.
