Malaysia and Thailand have hosted six times; The Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore have hosted four times; Myanmar three times; Vietnam twice; Brunei Darussalam and Laos once.

Cambodia just felt confident to host the SEA Games after recovering from colonialism and the turmoil of the political situation.

As a country hosting a major sporting event for the first time, Cambodia is considered “not quite ready yet”.

Indonesian netizens expressed various contempt regarding the holding of SEA Games 2023 in Cambodia.

Starting with the inverted flag incident at the opening ceremony, facilities that were considered minimal for an event the size of the SEA Games – a makeshift football team locker room and an athlete’s room that leaks – to the issue of alleged cheating by the hosts.

Journalist Daily compassAngga Putra, who reported directly from Cambodia, said some of the things that went viral on social media were true.

However, according to him, Indonesian netizens don’t need to “vilify” Cambodia and constantly laugh at them for trying.

“Don’t confuse yourself with other countries” which have hosted the SEA Games on several occasions, Angga said.

“In fact, we have to support him after first protesting and criticizing. They don’t have enough experience to organize a big event like the SEA Games. In fact, if given a better chance, Cambodia might be better than this,” Angga told BBC News Indonesia on Friday (05/12).

Angga even enjoyed the opening ceremony hosted by Cambodia. He said the event was “very charming”, although there was an incident where the flag was upside down, which Angga said was “unintentional”.

The preparation was also considered “very good”, with the establishment of a very large sports complex north of Phnom Penh.

Although the sports complex is still considered to have many shortcomings.

“The athlete’s guest house leaks, the water sometimes doesn’t work, rooms can be filled with up to eight athletes according to the coach’s account, and lights often go out at multiple venues,” did he declare.

“Holding the 2023 SEA Games can be a very valuable lesson for them in the future when they host the SEA Games again.”

What are the subjects that are busy being discussed and arousing criticism from Internet users in the organization of the SEA Games 2023 in Cambodia?

The Indonesian flag was hoisted upside down during the opening round of SEA Games 2023. Many netizens commented on this on social media, most netizens expressed their anger.

Press Agency Between reported that the upside down flag incident happened when one of the local Cambodian singers performed accompanied by dancers carrying 11 flags of SEA Games participants.

However, all the Indonesian flags carried by the dancers are in reverse position.

The incident with the Indonesian flag being hoisted upside down at the SEA Games is not the first time this has happened in Cambodia.

Previously, in the 2017 SEA Games hosted by Malaysia, the Indonesian flag in the activity guide was also upside down.

Cambodia – from the organizing committee to the prime minister – also apologized to Indonesia for the incident.

The discussion regarding the 2023 SEA Games became even more heated when the official social media account of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) uploaded a photo of the dressing room of the Garuda team.

Netizens hyped up the chair being used in the locker room, with many calling it a “party chair.”

In the comments column of the upload, some netizens responded with satire, some mocked – some even called “the worst host”, but there were also those who enjoyed Cambodia.

Some netizens urged other netizens not to “compare” facilities in Cambodia with other countries because “the hosts have done their best”.

A post on ICT Tac viral because it shows a podium that is highlighted using car headlights.

It was medal time and at that time the Indonesian athlete, Hendro Yap, was on the top step of the podium as he had won a gold medal.

Account owner @bungabdur wrote: “Respect The same effortnya”, which means honoring the efforts of the hosts who used car headlights to illuminate the podium.

Later it was discovered that there was a power outage on site, so the lighting was done on an improvised basis.

More recently, netizens also commented on the Athletes Hall leak.

Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi, an Indonesian badminton athlete, uploaded a video through her account instagramhis, which shows the Indonesian badminton player’s bedroom leaking during heavy rain.

Following the incident, the athletes occupying the hall were moved to another building.

In the end, Bayu won a silver medal and Non Sromoachkhorom received a gold medal.

However, the national pencak silat team coach made a different statement.

Between reported that the U45 male fighting class initially did not participate in the 2023 SEA Games due to a lack of participants.

However, after much pressure from multiple parties, the class was finally able to compete even with only four competitors, namely Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

As a thank you to the hosts who wanted to compete in the U45 pencak silat class, the gold medal was finally awarded to Cambodia.

“He [Kamboja] because the organizer never protests against anything. This is what all the friends of the country also appreciate. So with an incident like this, we finally accepted the time for Bayu class to win from Cambodia,” said head coach of the Indonesian national pencak silat team, Indor Catur Haryono.

Also from the martial arts branch, athlete Safira Dwi Meilani was suddenly deemed unable to fight by the referee and the match was over.

Sapphire is disqualified. Although at that time they won 61-43 against Vietnam.

An official protest has been lodged regarding the Malaysian referee’s decision.

In the end, Safira won a gold medal with the representative of Vietnam.

Allegations of fraud also occurred at the branch e-sport Valorant.

The Valorant Indonesia national team decided to withdraw from the final match after the organizers said they would not penalize the Singapore team who “turned out to have committed six acts”. bug abuse in the competition”, declared the Secretary General of the Executive Committee Esports Indonesian Franky Ong.

After a long diplomatic process with the organizers, the gold medals were finally awarded to Indonesia and Singapore.

The other relates to allegations that Cambodia was represented by Chinese athletes in badminton matches. Netizens called Cambodia “using jockeys” to win the game.

Chinese badminton star Zhou Meng is believed to have represented Cambodia as Chourng Meng. Internet users understood this by seeing the similarities between the two names.

Cambodia would have naturalized many players in this sport. However, no official statement has confirmed the case of the Chinese athletes in the badminton sports issue.