SE Asian Games end in style

Mon, 18 Dec 1995, 00:00 WIB

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Agencies): Thailand crowned its
dominating athletic performance with a stunning display of pomp
and pageantry yesterday to officially close the 18th Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games.

Watched by Privy Councillor and former Prime Minister Prem
Tinnsulanonda, the SEA Games flag -- hoisted during the opening
ceremony nine days earlier -- was lowered and handed to sports
officials from Indonesia, where the 19th SEA Games will be staged
in two years.

The Games torch that had burned throughout the competition was
also extinguished.

The carefully orchestrated closing ceremony began at dusk in
the packed, 20,000-seat main stadium at the new sports complex
outside Chiang Mai, 700 kilometers (450 miles) north of Bangkok.

It embodied the past, the present and the future, with
hundreds of costumed Thais performing traditional dances, a
precision performance by a marching band, and large groups of
youngsters in colored outfits representing the "next generation"
of each of the 10 nations.

Then the 3,266 athletes from Brunei, Burma, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam marched past the stands grouped by sport rather than
by nation. Most wore warmup suits rather than blazers or
traditional dress.

"Now they are no longer competitors, but friends," the stadium
announcer said.

After the Games flag was lowered, Prem, the official
representative of King Adulyadej Bhumibol, declared the Games
over.

Indonesian dancers staged a brief performance to mark the
country's acceptance of the flag and to welcome visitors to
Jakarta.

Indonesia has world-class athletes in badminton stars Joko
Suprianto, Ardy Wiranata and women's champion Susi Susanti,
world-rated tennis player Yayuk Basuki and their women's archery
team.

But they grudgingly admitted that Thailand are the best in the
10-nation contest, though they are already planning to get back
on top when the event is held in Jakarta in two years.

"We are not satisfied with our performance because we had set
ourselves a target of winning 45 percent of the golds here,"
Mohammad Sarengat, a senior member of the Indonesian delegation
told AFP.

Indonesia's failure to retain the overall title it won in
Singapore two years ago has prompted chef de mission Arie Sudewo
to resign from his post as vice chairman of the National Sports
Council.

Then participants on the by-then darkened field and thousands
of people in the stands lit flashlights to form a Royal Thai
barge, a symbol of Thai royalty.

Finally, thousands of balloons with lighted candles dangling
from them were released to float gently up into the night air,
and a spectacular fireworks display ended the ceremony with a
bang.

The message on the scoreboard read: "See You in Jakarta."

Only minutes before the elaborate ceremony started, the last
event of the nine-day competition ended in a nearby gymnasium.
Fittingly, it was won by Thailand, as was the first.

On Dec 9, cyclist Chalerm Chaemchuen began the Games by
winning the women's 25-kilometer road race. Boxer Narong Klahan
outpointed Ernesto Coronel of the Philippines in the men's 91-
kilogram (200-pound) heavyweight match late Sunday to claim the
last gold.

Thailand fielded the largest team -- 754 athletes -- in an
effort to topple powerful Indonesia, the overall medals champion
in eight of the last nine Games.

The Thais won 157 of the 334 gold medals awarded, more than
twice as many as Indonesia, which collected 77.

The rivalry will be renewed when the Games move to Jakarta in
1997.

Editorial -- Page 4