The Thai hosts suffered severe embarrassment due to numerous errors and shortcomings that occurred during the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games 2025 in Bangkok on Tuesday night. Several countries — including Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore — were adversely affected by the poor organisation of this major event.
Although Thailand has hosted the SEA Games six times since 1959, their performance during the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games was notably poor. The Thai hosts made eight major mistakes, causing significant damage to their reputation in the ASEAN region.
The opening ceremony was abruptly rescheduled, causing all participants to wait approximately 30 minutes for the arrival of the Thai king. The shortcomings became even clearer during the parade of athletes from all 11 participating countries.
Two notable points appeared to be designed to insult Cambodia.
The Khmer greeting shown on the giant screen — “ជម្រាបសួរ” (Chum Reap Suor) — was misspelled as “ជាំរាបសួរ”.
Of the 11 LED light boxes representing the 11 ASEAN nations, only Cambodia’s did not light up. This appeared to be an intentional act rather than an accident, reflecting a repeated pattern of negative attitudes from the Thai hosts toward Cambodia.
In addition, as the Indonesian delegation entered the stadium, the Thai emcees announced Indonesia’s past years of hosting the SEA Games — 1979, 1987, 1997 and 2011. However, the flag shown on the giant screen was Singapore’s national flag, not Indonesia’s. This disrespected the national identities of both Indonesia and Singapore. A similar error involving country names and flags had already occurred during the football opening ceremony on December 3.
Vietnam was also affected by Thailand’s poor organisation. A map of Vietnam displayed on the giant screen omitted two of Vietnam’s islands, prompting a strong diplomatic reaction from Vietnam, as the mistake directly questioned their national sovereignty.
Thailand also embarrassed itself during key ceremonial moments. When the SEA Games anthem was played, the SEA Games flag fell down after police officers left their positions, due to improper fastening. The most humiliating part for the Thai hosts was the torch-lighting ceremony, which malfunctioned.
The lighting of the main cauldron produced only smoke, with no visible flame. Thai commentators attempted to talk continuously to distract both spectators in the stadium and viewers watching live, while camera operators avoided close-up shots of the cauldron. Even so, the failure was impossible to miss.
Another issue was the absence of fireworks during the ceremony. This may have been due to the flame malfunction producing only smoke, or possibly because Thailand cited the ongoing war situation as a reason for avoiding loud explosions. Another possibility was cost-cutting, as the SEA Games is facing several controversies relating to insufficient Thai funding.
“The SEA Games cauldron only produced smoke — there was no flame at all. Everyone kept looking to see when it would ignite, but it never did,” said a source who attended the opening ceremony.
“Because there was only smoke and no proper flame, the Thai hosts could not fire celebratory fireworks either. Everything ended quietly, and spectators were noticeably confused,” they added.
Earlier today, the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) announced the withdrawal of all Cambodian athletes from the games. They thanked the Thai sporting authorities for their hospitality, but regretfully cited safety concerns amid the ongoing conflict as the reason for their decision.
