Given the short time available for fifth-placed Malaysia to catch up in the medal table, the Indonesian contingent is likely to stay in fourth as today’s efforts have borne but a single gold in jiujitsu. Indonesia has so far secured 266 medals, comprised of 72 gold, 83 silver and 111 bronze, while Malaysia has collected 184 medals, comprising 55 gold, 58 silver and 71 bronze.

The jiujitsu gold came courtesy of Mohammad Noor, who competed in the men’s 120 kilogram category. Mohammad was awarded the gold medal after the bench disqualified his opponent, Phanuphong Kitpongpanit of Thailand. Kitpongpanit was given the silver medal. The bronze medal was shared by host athlete Peter Meimban and Luu Minh Thien of Vietnam.

Chef de mission Harry Warganegara praised the achievements of the Indonesian athletes as they have far exceeded all earlier predictions. He conceded that most likely Indonesia would stay in fourth as it was impossible to close the gap with both Vietnam and Thailand, who respectively sit in second and third.

“Vietnam and Thailand have deployed athletes in more sports than us and they have shown us what proper preparations would mean in this kind of arena,” Harry told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Senior journalist Budiarto Shambazy said the biggest contributor to Indonesia’s relegated position was its failure to benefit from sports that offered a huge number of medals, such as swimming and track and field.

“We have seen that swimming and track and field, which offer large numbers of medals, have been quite impenetrable by our athletes,” he said as quoted by Antara news service.

Indonesia has only managed to secure one gold, six silver and seven bronze medals from swimming. The gold was won by I Gede Siman Sudartawa, who competed in the men’s 50 meters backstroke. In contrast, swimming powerhouse Singapore collected 23 gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals in the sport, followed by second-ranked Vietnam, which picked up 10 gold, six silver and nine bronze medals.

In the track and field arena, Indonesia was only able to secure five gold, six silver and four bronze. Vietnam and Thailand won the most medals in track and field. Vietnam managed to secure a total of 36 medals, comprised of 14 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze, while Thailand secured 34 medals, comprising 12 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze.

Despite being pushed down the medal table, Harry said, the Indonesian contingent had proven wrong predictions that these athletes would only be able to collect 45 gold. They even surpassed the target set by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who had stated his expectation that the Indonesian team should win at least 60 medals.

Harry also said Indonesia had managed to improve its rank and medal achievement compared to the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, at which Indonesia ranked fifth and collected a total of 150 medals, comprising 32 gold, 54 silver and 64 bronze.

He said the fact that 60 percent of the contingent were junior athletes with little experience had boosted the team’s confidence that they could do more in future arenas.

“We need to maintain this momentum by giving them what they need to maximize their talent and achievement,” Harry said.

The unexpected success at the Games means the government must dish out more funds to the medalists and associations. Harry said they were still discussing the right amount, but he assured that the sport associations whose athletes had won medals would also receive a cash reward.

“It will be our token of appreciation for the sport associations, which have been willing to struggle side-by-side with their athletes until they could deliver,” Harry added.

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