Malaysia handed the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games baton to 2019 host the Philippines on Wednesday during the closing ceremony of the Kuala Lumpur Games, a competition in which Indonesian sports took a big blow, bagging only 38 gold medals — the worst in its SEA Games history.

Formally the strongest delegation at the Games, Indonesia has been crowned the overall champion 10 times since joining the biennial event in 1977. At the 2017 Games, however, the country failed to meet its own target of 55 gold.

Finishing in fifth place again, the Red-and-White delegation, powered by 534 athletes, could not even surpass its previous effort of 47 gold at the 2015 Games in Singapore.

“We’re all really concerned with the final result, and I apologize. I take full responsibility [for the slump], and will definitely make it a key point in our evaluation,” Indonesia’s Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by Antara.

In the meantime, Aziz Syamsuddin, Indonesia’s chief delegate for the Games, praised his athletes, despite their failure to meet the target.

“The athletes competed to their limits to win medals,” he told The Jakarta Post, refusing to take blame for the underperformance as the target had been set by someone else.

He said the athletes should have undertaken longer training programs to achieve better performances.

After the review of the country’s performance at the 2017 Games, selected athletes will begin preparing for the 2018 Asian Games set to be hosted by Indonesia, Aziz said.

The Golkar Party lawmaker called on all stakeholders in Indonesian sports to work hand-in-hand to support the athletes, including by providing them with proper funding for the necessary training programs.

“Pointing fingers is the last thing we want to do right now. It will be better for us to sit together and work things out,” he added.

Also denying responsibility for the disappointing medal tally, Indonesia’s National Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Erick Thohir said his institution should have been involved in the athletes training programs so that the 2017 target could have been met.

Media mogul Erick expected the committee to take on a bigger role in the athletes’ grooming in the future. Training is mainly handled by Indonesia’s Gold Program, known as Satlak Prima.

“The IOC should have had greater involvement in the athletes’ grooming, and not just in sending athletes off [to international events],” said Erick.

“We could become the bridge [among stakeholders] in seeking support from other international sports federations and other National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to improve our athletes’ abilities,” he added.

The Indonesian contingent completed the last day of competition by adding one silver and one bronze medal to bring its overall tally to 38 gold, 63 silver and 90 bronze.

The top three finishers at the 2017 Games were Malaysia with 145 gold, 92 silver and 86 bronze medals; followed by Thailand with 72 gold, 86 silver and 88 bronze and Vietnam with 58 gold, 50 silver and 60 bronze.

An estimated 90,000 people flocked to Bukit Jalil National Stadium for Wednesday evening’s closing ceremony to bid farewell to the Games.

The master of ceremonies asked the audience to join together to sing “Sahabat Selamanya” (Best Friends Forever), an original song from the soundtrack of Malaysia’s popular animated series “Upin-Ipin.” The song was meant to inspire the participating countries to strengthen the friendship among them.

The Philippines’ Olympic Committee president, Jose Cojuanco Jr., received the host baton.

The Games were participated by 11 countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin praised all the athletes and other related stakeholders who made sure the tournament was a success.

Scores of notable guests and top Malaysian officials, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, attended the ceremony, which featured a fireworks display and an LED-based concert.

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