THEY say a sports team performs its best on its own grounds. Home ground advantage is believed to come from being accustomed to local weather conditions, the psychological advantage of playing on familiar soil, and a stronger display of support coming from local fans and spectators, who are said to be harsher against the opponents and more forgiving of their own teams’ slip-ups. However, it would seem this extension of grace does not apply to organisers of sporting events.

From the get-go, the event has seen its harshest criticism coming from Malaysians. The opening ceremony was quite well-executed, receiving mostly praise from the dignitaries in attendance. It had given prominence to a very important segment of our community often left out in these kind of Ali-Muthu-Ah Chong Muhibbah scenarios, our native population.

Yet, questions were raised about costs and expenditure, despite capping the budget at about half of what both Myanmar and Singapore spent hosting it at, RM450 million, and the pledge to utilise only current sports facilities for it.

Had Malaysia opted out of hosting, as the Philippines did for 2019, it would likely have come with a new set of criticism revolving around diplomacy and national pride.

Then came the next criticism – infrastructure. Leaking pipes, broken seats, dirty venues.

But these are not only the responsibility of the organisers but the custodians of the stadiums in question, including the state governments of Kedah, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor.

Other complaints included wrong announcements and of course, the most mentioned – mismatched flags, beginning with the upside-down Indonesian flag.

Was it a stupid mistake? Yes. Could it have flared off an international diplomatic incident? Definitely.

But could it have easily slipped someone’s eye, especially people who have been staring at similar-looking foreign flags all day?

Should Malaysians have joined the bandwagon in the “Shame on You Malaysia” social media campaign? Probably not. At least not within the first five minutes.

With multiple events across five states, in nearly 40 locations, and a predominantly-volunteer workforce of 13,000, a glitch here and there should be expected and managed. As part of the regional social media scene, spreading some love and trying to cool off the situation with angry neighbours would have helped eased the tension.

There is enough criticism from foreign countries to deal with without us adding our own. Thailand, for example, has been accusing Malaysia of adding events that favour our teams and removing events that favour them.

In perspective, this is no different from Cambodia adding their local Chinlone, or the Phillipines adding Eskrima, or Thailand themselves introducing a new type of ball only familiar to them in sepak takraw.

A large portion of the criticism appears to target the Minister in charge, Khairy Jamaluddin. Much of it centres around his participation in the games.

Having a sportsman Minister may not be the worst thing, neither is it a novel thing. Laura Hassel, the French minister in charge of sports, is a five time Olympian. Greg Hunt, her Australian counterpart is a ranked marathoner. Vanja Udovicic, the Serbian Cabinet’s member in charge of Sports played water polo and Tracey Crouch, the UK Undersecretary for Sports coaches FA football.

If he inspires the contingent, why not?

Not all criticism leveled against the organisers have been unfair. The continual display of wrong flags, especially that of our own flag, after the first two incidents are quite unacceptable.

But even more unacceptable are the few reported accidents involving chartered vehicles, some ending up with cancelled events and injured athletes. Stern action including permanent revocation of licenses should be seriously considered, as these governments have entrusted the safety and well-being of their budding and star athletes in the hands of the organisers.

Equally serious are the reported cases of food poisoning from eating at the venues. These pose serious life and reputational risks.

The sports bodies will also need to look at the many complaints of scheduling conflicts and arguments against judge’s decisions.

Despite the hiccups, Malaysians still have plenty to be proud of – the amazing medal count of the Malaysian athletes not least of them. A few contributed by our first SEA Games gold medalist Sultan!

With just two days left, here’s hoping for a smooth end to a patchy but fruitful SEA Games.

And a long deserved break for the team that made it happen. – August 29, 2017.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.