In less than six months, Indonesia will host the 18th Asian Games (Asiad), an international multisport event that could help groom the country’s athletes for the Olympics.

However, in chasing its medal dreams, the host country has opted to take shortcuts, instead of sticking to a long-term development plan that could eventually lead to Olympic glory — something that has raised concerns within the sports community.

Indonesia is in the hunt for at least 16 gold medals, a figure it may need to reach to finish in the top 10 in the quadrennial Games, which will be held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2. The Youth and Sports Ministry previously said that Indonesia would need at least 20 gold medals to secure a top-10 finish.

“To finish in the top 10, we should win at least 16 gold medals [...],” said Vice President Jusuf Kalla after attending a coordination meeting on the medal target in Jakarta on Thursday.

“In the end, people will only remember our achievements, not the opening ceremony.

“Even with our beautiful stadium and even if we succeed as the host, it would mean nothing if we cannot fulfill the medal target,” added Kalla, a supervisor for the Games’ local organizing committee and the Indonesian team.

In Olympic sports, Indonesia has gold medal hopes in nine events, including badminton and weightlifting. Two of the Olympic sports — climbing and karate — will be added for the first time to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

In non-Olympic sports, meanwhile, Indonesia is looking to stay competitive in eight events, including bridge, paragliding and martial art pencak silat.

In response to the updated medal target, sports observer Fritz Simanjuntak said winning 16 golds was realistic. However, he questioned the government’s logic in choosing the sports, as only half of them were Olympic sports.

“We should really start to prepare long term, especially for next year’s Southeast Asian Games and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo,” Fritz told The Jakarta Post.

“It is true that the government seems to be trying to improve the quality of our sports, but what we see now is they are just making decisions based on a short-term goal.

“In order to develop our sports, we need to have a systematic program that is forward-looking. It is something that we don’t have right now,” he added.

The host country has also formed new sports federations, including one for Turkish martial art kurash, in a strategic move that could give Indonesia more opportunities to earn medals.

The future of such federations, however, remains in question.

At the 2014 Games in Incheon, South Korea, Indonesia finished 17th with four gold medals, five silvers and 11 bronzes.

Meanwhile, at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia finished fifth after bagging 38 gold medals, its lowest count in history.

Despite the ambitious medal target and the poor showing at the previous Games, Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said he hoped all sports federations could stay optimistic.

“All parties, including organizers, sports federations and athletes, are ready for the event.

“We’re still evaluating our athletes’ needs, because they are the biggest asset. What matters the most is to have the athletes reach their peak performance during the Asian Games,” said Imam.