Thailand Salah Featured Indonesia's Bandera At The Opening Of The 2025 SEA Games

Indonesian contingent defile during the opening ceremony of the 2025 SEA Games (doc. NOC Indonesia).

The host of Thailand misshowed the Indonesian bandera at the opening ceremony of the 2025 SEA Games which was lively at the Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.

The opening ceremony was actually stunning, featuring various traditional performances and stunning LED graphics. Thousands of drones started the ceremony by forming various thematic illustrations in the sky.

However, the opening was marked by controversy over a number of technical errors made by the host, one of which was to feature the Indonesian bandera incorrectly.

This moment occurred when Indonesia was introduced to host the SEA Games in the 1997 edition. Instead of using the Indonesian flag, the 2025 SEA Games organizing committee even displayed the Singapore flag at that moment.

This is the second time that the bandera has occurred at the Thailand 2025 SEA Games. Previously, when the women's soccer schedule was released on the official website of the event, the committee made a mistake in installing the Laos flag for Indonesia.

As the host, Thailand even misinstalled its own bandera in the same case. Their women's team, which is against Indonesia, was also confused with the flag by installing Vietnam's.

In addition, the opening of this year's edition also has an error in the appearance of the number of medals being contested. The number of medals contested at this event is 574, but instead those displayed on monitor 547.

In addition to technical problems at the opening, Thailand's SEA Games were also hit by service and logistics problems which made participating countries complain.

The 2025 SEA Games will last until December 20. There are approximately tens of thousands of athletes from 11 participating countries who take part in the biennial multi-pronged sporting event.

Indonesia sent 1,021 athletes to the Land of the White Elephant with a target of getting 80 gold medals in order to rank third in the final standings to repeat the same record in Cambodia in 2023.