1997 Southeast Asian Games

19th Southeast Asian Games

Host city	Jakarta
Country	Indonesia
Nations participating	10
Athletes participating	4696
Events	440
Sports	34
Opening ceremony	11 October 1997
Closing ceremony	19 October 1997
Officially opened by	Suharto President of Indonesia
Officially closed by	Suharto President of Indonesia
Athlete's Oath	Dedeh Herawati
Judge's Oath	Serafi Anelis Unani
Torch lighter	Rini Budiarti
Ceremony venue	Senayan Sports Stadium
Website	1997 Southeast Asian Games
<  1995 1999  >

The 1997 Southeast Asian Games (Indonesian: Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 1997), officially known as the 19th Southeast Asian Games (Indonesian: Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara ke-19) was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Jakarta, Indonesia. This was the third time Indonesia hosted the games and its first time since 1987. Previously, Indonesia also hosted the games for the first time in 1979.

Around 4696 athletes from 10 participating nations participated at the games, which featured 440 events in 34 sports. The games was held from 11 to 19 October 1997, although several events had commenced from 5 October 1997. The games was opened and closed by Suharto, the President of Indonesia at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, then known as Senayan Sports Stadium.

The final medal tally was led by host Indonesia, followed by neighbouring countries Thailand and Malaysia. Several World, Asian, Games and National Records were broken during the games.^[1] With little or no controversies at all, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations.

Organisation

West Java

Jakarta

Host cities of the 1997 Southeast Asian Games

Development and preparation

The Organising Committee Of The 19th SEA Games Jakarta 1997 (JASOC) led by President Wismoyo Arismunandar was formed to oversee the staging of the games.^[2]

Venues

The 1997 Southeast Asian Games used a mix of new, existing and temporary venues. Some major retrofitting work were done in most venues, although they had been used to host major multi-disciplinary events such as the 1962 Asian Games, the 1979 Southeast Asian Games and the 1987 Southeast Asian Games.

At the centrepiece of the activities was the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, then Senayan Sports Complex which was completed on 24 July 1962. Incorporating the 120,800-seat national stadium at that time, it hosted most of the events.

A games village was not built. Instead, a "village in the city" concept saw athletes and officials housed in were housed in hotels in Jakarta and West Java. Besides being physically near to the sport venues, it was hoped that it will add vibe to both provinces and reduce post-games costs in converting a dedicated games village to other uses.^[3]

The 19th Southeast Asian Games had 35 venues for the games, 29 in Jakarta and 6 in West Java.^[4][5]

Marketing

Logo

Hanuman, the white monkey character in the Ramayana epic, the official mascot of the games.

The logo of the 1997 Southeast Asian Games is an image of three flames, and two torch rings which represents the 5 basic foundations of The Republic of Indonesia, Pancasila. The upward flames represent the aspiration of the participating nations to achieve the highest standards at the 19th Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta. The colours of red, blue, and yellow are the basic colours of the flame. The red represents the "spirit" of the Games, the blue represents the "dynamism" of the Games and the yellow represents the "hope" the Games brings to the athletes and people of Southeast Asia. The six-ring chain, the logo of the Southeast Asian Games Federation represents the six founding nations of the Southeast Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games itself. The gold colour of the Southeast Asian Games Federation Logo represents the solidarity of the Games. The games' logo is the last logo in Southeast Asian Games history to use the 6-ring chain Federation logo before it was replaced by the 10-ring chain Federation logo at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games.^[6]

Mascot

The mascot of the 1997 Southeast Asian Games is a Ramayana epic character named "Hanuman". The Ramayana, known in Java, Indonesia as Kakawin Ramayana, is an Indian epic, which spread into Southeast Asia including the Indonesian archipelago during the ancient times. It does not only exists in oral and literary works, but also serves as the underlying theme for art performances and as the inspiration for other works, such as sculptures, paintings and literature. According to the Ramayana epic, he is an ardent devotee of Rama, fighting alongside him in the face of conflict and struggle. Hanuman exist in the form of a white monkey in the Javanese adaptation of the epic. While Hanuman is not the main character in the story, he is said to have always successful in accomplishing his tasks and in a series of events, proves himself superior in speed, strength and altitude. For example, on one occasion, he undertook to travel to Lanka, known as Alengka in Indonesian and back in a day, in combat, he fought with Angada, known as Hanggada in Indonesian to determine which opponent would be worthy of serving as Rama's emissary to find Sinta, as well as in several other battles, and, in performing his duties, he was able to fly in the clouds. In Java and Bali, Hanuman is one of the characters featured in the Wayang Shadow Puppet Show, known to the locals with the title Sang Kera Pemuja Dewa Rama (The mighty devotee ape of Rama). Chosen as the games mascot, he is said to support the games motto "May The Best Man win". The cotton white colour of his body hair, a colour, traditionally symbolises sincerity and purity of heart, while the gold and black colour represents his attribute as a Wayang character. In the games, his cotton white colour represents sportsmanship spirit in which one recognises the opponent's strength and one's weakness, strive outperform others with dignity and willingness to learn, while the yellow and black colour represents quality. Overall, he represents openness, sense of brotherhood, pursuit of ambition without being ambitious, sense of humour, lowly heart in which one does not boast on one's success, enthusiasm, honesty, sportsmanship, discipline, willingness to earn humility and friendship. ^[7][8]

Sponsors

A total of 31 sponsors sponsored the games.^[9]

The games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held at the Senayan Sports Stadium on 11 October 1997 at 19:00 (WIT). The games was declared opened by Indonesian President, Suharto. The athletes' and the judges' oath were taken by Dedeh Herawati and Serafi Anelis Unani respectively and the torch was lit by Rini Budiarti.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held at the Senayan Sports Stadium on 19 October 1997 at 19:00 (WIT). The games was declared closed by Indonesian President, Suharto and the SEA Games responsibilities was officially handed over to Brunei, host of the 1999 Southeast Asian Games.

Participating nations

Sports

Calendar

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Gold medal events

CC

Closing ceremony

October	5 Sun	6 Mon	7 Tue	8 Wed	9 Thu	10 Fri	11 Sat	12 Sun	13 Mon	14 Tue	15 Wed	16 Thu	17 Fri	18 Sat	19 Sun	Gold medal events
Ceremonies							OC								CC
Archery									●	●	●	1	1	2		4
Athletics									7	9	8	1	8	9	2	44
Badminton								●	●	2		●	●	5		7
Basketball							●	●	●	●	●	●	●	2		2
Billiards and snooker							2	1	2	1	1	2	1	2		12
Bodybuilding													●	8		8
Boxing							●	●	●	●	●	11				11
Bowling									2	2	●	4	2	2		12
Canoeing						●	●	7	5							12
Cycling								2	1	●	5	2	2	2	2	16
Diving								1	1	1	1					4
Fencing								2	2	1		2	2	1		10
Football	●		●		●	●		●		●		●	1	1		2
Golf								●	●	●	●	2	2			4
Gymnastics								1	1	2	6	4	1	1		16
Hockey								●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	2
Judo									4	4	4	4				16
Karate												6	6	5	2	19
Pencak silat									●	2	2	2		14		20
Rowing											●	●	5	6		11
Sailing								●	●	●	●	●	●	15		15
Sepak takraw								●	●	●	2	●	●	●	2	4
Shooting								4	6	6	8	6	6	4	2	42
Softball								●	●	●	●	●	●	2		2
Squash								2	●	●	●	●	●	2		4
Swimming								7	6	7	6	6				32
Synchronized swimming											1	1				2
Table tennis								●	●	2	●	●	●	5		7
Taekwondo								4	4	4	4					16
Tennis								●	●	2	●	●	●	5		7
Traditional boat race										●	●	●	4	4		8
Volleyball								●	●	●	●	●	●	4		4
Waterskiing								●	●	●	●	●	3	3		6
Weightlifting								4	4	4	4	3				19
Wrestling								●	5	5	●	●	5	5		20
Water polo								●	●	●	1					1
Wushu								6	7	6						19
Total gold medal events	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	41	57	60	53	57	49	110	11	440
Cumulative total	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	43	100	160	213	270	319	429	440
October	5 Sun	6 Mon	7 Tue	8 Wed	9 Thu	10 Fri	11 Sat	12 Sun	13 Mon	14 Tue	15 Wed	16 Thu	17 Fri	18 Sat	19 Sun	Gold medal events

Medal table

A total of 1421 medals, comprising 448 Gold medals, 432 Silver medals and 541 Bronze medals were awarded to athletes. The host Indonesia's performance was their best ever yet and emerged as overall champion of the games.^[13][14]

Key

  *   Host nation (Indonesia)

1997 Southeast Asian Games medal table

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Indonesia (INA)*	194	101	115	410
2	Thailand (THA)	83	97	78	258
3	Malaysia (MAS)	55	68	75	198
4	Philippines (PHI)	43	56	108	207
5	Vietnam (VIE)	35	48	50	133
6	Singapore (SIN)	30	26	50	106
7	Myanmar (MYA)	8	34	44	86
8	Brunei (BRU)	0	2	8	10
9	Laos (LAO)	0	0	7	7
10	Cambodia (CAM)	0	0	6	6
Total (10 NOCs)		448	432	541	1421

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1997 Southeast Asian Games.

• "1997 Southeast Asian Games Official Website". 11 January 1998. Archived from the original on 11 January 1998. Retrieved 10 February 2017. 
• News Views
• SEA Games previous medal table
• 1997 Wasantara Website
• Wasantara Official Website
• Tokopedia: First day cover stamps of the games