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SEA Games: Hosts Malaysia receive flak from neighbours for organising gaffes

KUALA LUMPUR — The glitzy opening ceremony at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium last Saturday night (Aug 19) that marked the return of the South-east Asian Games to Malaysia after 16 years was hailed as a huge success, with many Malaysians lauding the organisers for putting on a show to remember.

The page in the official 29th Kuala Lumpur SEA Games booklet featuring the wrongly-positioned Indonesia flag. Photo: Twitter

The page in the official 29th Kuala Lumpur SEA Games booklet featuring the wrongly-positioned Indonesia flag. Photo: Twitter

KUALA LUMPUR — The glitzy opening ceremony at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium last Saturday night (Aug 19) that marked the return of the South-east Asian Games to Malaysia after 16 years was hailed as a huge success, with many Malaysians lauding the organisers for putting on a show to remember.

With over a million visitors, over 5,000 athletes and officials expected in town for the Aug 19 to 30 Games, some however, have been made to feel less than welcome after a series of gaffes by the Malaysia Organising Committee for Kuala Lumpur 2017 (Masoc).

On Aug 17, the Myanmar women’s football team was left stranded at the Shah Alam Stadium after their 5-0 victory over the hosts as their team bus failed to show up. The team were delayed for close to an hour before a bus finally arrived to transport them back to their hotel. 

News subsequently emerged that Shah Alam police had arrested their 27-year-old Malaysian driver for stealing a watch belonging to a local player and for driving without a licence. The arrest had occurred during the match – which started at 8.45pm – and a replacement driver had not been found in time, resulting in the no-show last Thursday.

Myanmar fans have also complained about being made to feel less than welcome by the Games’ hosts.

On Aug 16, fans who had turned up at the UiTM Stadium for the Myanmar men’s football team Group A match against Laos were turned away at the gates. TODAY understands that they were told that the allocated number of tickets for the Myanmar fan section had been sold out, this despite fans’ claiming that there were swathes of empty seats in the stadium. 

A number of fans had to find alternatives instead, choosing to watch the match from a grass slope nearby, while others had to peek over banners surrounding the stadium in Shah Alam. 

Those who did manage to get in were made to queue for a long time as only one gate was open entry, resulting in some fans missing out on much of the the action in the first half. 

Logistical and transport issues also hit Team Singapore’s table tennis players on Sunday, when an athlete shuttle bus did not show up at the team hotel for their 7am scheduled departure time to the competition venue at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec). 

The bus drivers then claimed that they had not received any instructions to transport them to their venue, leaving team officials to resort to using car-hailing service Grab to get the players to their scheduled 9am matches on time. 

ORGANISERS FLAGGED FOR GAFFES

In what was an embarrassing faux pas for the Games organisers, a printing error in the official Games booklet saw the Indonesian flag depicted upside down in the booklet – and resembling the Polish flag – drawing the ire of Indonesian netizens. The hashtag #ShameonyouMalaysia soon emerged and topped the popularity charts on Twitter.

Mr Imam Nahrawi, Indonesia’s Minister of Youth and Sports, also posted a photo of the offending error and said: “The opening ceremony was good but we are hurt by a painful and fatal careless mistake.”

His Malaysian counterpart Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, chairman of Masoc, had to apologise later in the evening, and said on his Twitter account: “Please accept my sincere apologies for this. There was no malice. I very much regret that this mistake happened. My apologies.”

Mr Khairy also met with Mr Imam on Sunday to officially apologise in person. 

It was not the only Malaysian gaffe that drew anger from its South-east Asian neighbours, of whom 10 are competing at the 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur. 

A television broadcast of the wushu women’s optional jianshu final had displayed the Indonesian flag for gold medallist Thuy Vi Duong, who is from Vietnam.

Another similar incident occurred last Friday during the synchronised swimming duet technical routine, when the Bruneian armed forces flag was displayed on the scoreboard of the National Aquatic Centre for Jacqueline Lim and Nur Hafizah Ahmad instead of the flag of Brunei.

While teething and logistical issues can crop up during major multi-sports events like the SEA Games – which boasts some 4,888 athletes competing across 38 sports – Masoc has vowed to sort the problems out quickly. 

To its credit, the Malaysian organising committee have acted quickly to resolve issues wherever they can. Mr Khairy said on Twitter: “Glitches will be fixed but don't believe everything you read.

"We will clarify from time to time.” 

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