The Minister of Youth and Sports' Ambitious Project for the 2025 Thailand SEA Games

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Minister of Youth and Sports Erick Thohir has demonstrated a very ambitious outlook for the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand. From a below-average number of athletes, Indonesia will now send its second-largest contingent in history. The problem is that the increase in the quantity of athletes does not align with the performance targets.

After a prolonged period of uncertainty, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, through Minister Erick Thohir, finally announced the Indonesian contingent for the SEA Games at the Ministry of Youth and Sports building in Jakarta, Friday (21/11/2025), less than three weeks before the multi-sport event. Indonesia will send 996 athletes competing in 48 sports disciplines with the aim of maintaining its third-place ranking.

Two months ago, a few days after being appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports, Erick claimed that Indonesia could only send 120 athletes due to the available funding of only Rp 10 billion. In October, Erick stated that the budget had increased to Rp 60 billion, allowing for the dispatch of 700-800 athletes. With this number, Erick aims for Indonesia to at least achieve a third-place ranking again, similar to the SEA Games in Vietnam 2021 and Cambodia 2023.

"Because the target is third place, that's why we're pushing (the number of athletes)," said Erick, answering Kompas' question about the reason for sending so many athletes.

"This is why we're pushing so hard. The Ministry of Youth and Sports has allocated a budget of up to Rp 66 billion because we want to finish third. That's the reason. We're serious about achieving those medal figures. Even then, the gold medal tally is in the 80s," Erick continued.

The number of 996 athletes represents an increase of 66.3 percent from the total Indonesian contingent for the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games. At that time, Indonesia was represented by 599 athletes from 31 sports. This number is also the second highest after Indonesia hosted the Jakarta-Palembang SEA Games in 2011 with 1,053 athletes.

Erick emphasized that all athletes were sent to the SEA Games using the budget from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. No athlete departed independently. Therefore, Erick urged the seriousness of the sports branch management to ensure that the athletes who participated would win medals.

Now, with a contingent of 996 athletes, Erick stated that Indonesia's target for gold medals is in the range of 80-85 pieces. If the number of gold medals achieved is below 80 pieces or even reaches 70 pieces, Indonesia is at risk of ranking fourth.

Nevertheless, the target of 80-85 gold medals is not significantly different from the projection made by the Minister of Youth and Sports in October, which was 78 gold medals when the potential to send 700-800 athletes was considered. Additionally, the number of medals is also lower than the calculations made by the sports branch administrators.

Erick stated that the sports branch administrators are targeting a total of 129 gold medals. "Thank God if we achieve 129 gold medals. However, we must remain grounded; the evaluation results indicate that we should aim for 90 percent of the target," he said.

The target set by the Ministry of Youth and Sports is also lower than the total achieved by Indonesia at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, which was 87 gold medals. In fact, a total of 996 athletes will be the second-largest number of the Indonesian contingent throughout Indonesia's participation in the SEA Games since the Kuala Lumpur edition in 1977.

Indonesia once sent as many as 1,053 athletes, but at that time Indonesia was the host for the Jakarta-Palembang edition in 2011. Subsequently, the largest contingent of Indonesia was recorded during the 2019 Philippines SEA Games with 841 athletes. However, after the Philippines, Indonesia's strength has never reached 600 athletes.

Moreover, starting from the 2021 Vietnam edition, the SEA Games has been emphasized as not the main priority or merely an intermediate target. The main objectives are the Asian Games and the Olympics. This is part of the long-term development program of the National Sports Grand Design (DBON). The same commitment continues in the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games.

With this paradigm, the demands on athletes have shifted from merely winning medals at the SEA Games to achieving performance standards. Athletes need to meet performance standards in accordance with the periodization of training in order to excel at higher-level competitions, such as the Asian Games or the Olympics. If these standards are met, and are better than those of athletes from other countries, medals will come naturally.

Moreover, the quantity of the contingent does not always align with the quality of the achievements obtained. This was evidenced in the last two editions, where Indonesia managed to secure third place despite having fewer athletes. Meanwhile, when fielding a larger team in the Philippines, Indonesia was relegated to fourth place.

Erick stated that the SEA Games in Thailand 2025 serves as a basis for the Ministry of Youth and Sports to conduct an evaluation in preparation for the roadmap towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. The evaluation is carried out because the SEA Games are considered an intermediate target, while the main objectives are the Asian Games and the Olympics.

On the other hand, although nearly a thousand athletes have been sent, the allocation in several sports is still considered less than ideal. In swimming, which is an Olympic sport, for example, they were only able to send 22 athletes from an initial request of 26 athletes. Meanwhile, at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, Indonesia was represented by 24 swimmers.

Indonesian National Swimming Team Manager Wisnu Wardhana said the Indonesian Aquatics Board (PB AI) is still working on requesting two more athletes. "However, there's no approval yet. That's for team strength. If there are 24 athletes, the relay eliminations could field a reserve team. The main team can perform optimally in the final," he said.

Despite the decrease in the number of swimmers from the previous edition, PB AI is still targeted to achieve three gold medals in Thailand. This target is the same as their achievement in Cambodia. The three previous gold medalists, I Gede Siman Sudartawa, Felix Viktor Iberle, and Masinari Wolf, will compete again in December.