It’s definitely been an eventful SEA Games this year, especially since we’re the host nation this time around!
Team Malaysia has definitely done us proud during the games, with the current gold medal tally at 111, putting us in the number one spot. However, we’ve also sadly been subject to international scrutiny, which started off with the Indonesian flag misprint scandal.
Now, according to Channel News Asia, team Indonesia has accused Malaysia of cheating during last week’s ‘pencak silat’ event, where Malaysia won the gold in the men’s artistic doubles.
Source: Malaysian Insight
Indonesia team manager Edhy Prabowo was outraged at the final score and told local news, “It’s absolutely not authentic, not proper. Never in the history of the male doubles has anyone had such inflated points.”
“They did not even deserve a third place, not even a fourth. I knew Malaysia would cheat. This is not good for our athletes, but we now have to accept this.”
Team Indonesia were reportedly shocked when they saw that Malaysia was awarded a total of 582 points, leaving them in second place with 554 points. Prabowo continued,
“It has never happened before that judges awarded 582 points in this category. Never mind 582, even to get 570 is extremely difficult.”
Source: Channel NewsAsia
One of the Indonesian athletes who competed in the final said, “For me, it’s impossible (that Malaysia won). We met Malaysia not just once; we competed against them five times before and they never reached the podium. Here they finally stand on the podium.”
SEA Games organisers have yet to comment on the accusation. We hope this matter gets sorted out as diplomatically as possible.
Also read: Malaysia Suffers Backlash After Wrongly Printing Indonesian Flag in SEA Games Booklet
