South East Asian Games

SEAGF / SEA Games

[South East Asian Games Federation flag]
image located by Erik Bell, December 31, 2002.

Background

At the suggestion of Laung Sukhum Nayapradit an Olympic official from Thailand,
the Southeast Asian Peninsula Games Federation was created in 1958 to stage
games promoting friendliness among the nations of Southeast Asia.

The founding members were:

The first games were held in 1959 and biennially afterward.
On Febuary 5, 1977
Indonesia, The Philippines, and
Brunei Darussalam were admitted and
the name changed to Southeast Asian Games Federation.

Erik Bell, December 31, 2002.

“The Southeast Asian Games owes its origins to the South East Asian
Peninsula Games or SEAP Games. On 22 May 1958, delegates from the
countries in Southeast Asian Peninsula attending the
Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan had
a meeting and agreed to establish a sport organisation. The SEAP Games
was conceptualised by Luang Sukhum Nayaoradit, then Vice-President of
the Thailand Olympic Committee. The proposed rationale was that a
regional sports event will help promote co-operation, understanding
and relations among countries in the Southeast Asian region.”
Sources:
http://www.seagfoffice.org/seagf.php and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian_Games
For additional information go to:
SEAGF (official website)

Esteban Rivera, 24 August 2015

The Flag

The first SEAP Games Federation and ceremonial flag was six gold interlocking
rings forming a circle on a blue field. This flag was used from 1959 to 1997.
The current flag was introduced in 1999 and differs only in that there are 10
gold rings instead of six. The flag is lowered at closing ceremonies, folded,
and presented by the SEA Games Federation to representatives of the next host nation.

Attached is a photo of the SEA Games Flag being carried at the closing ceremony
of the 2001 SEA Games. (c) Vietnam News Agency.
You can get a close up look at the flag in a video clip of the 2001
SEA Games Opening Ceremony at

Thestar: SEA Games site.
Click on the OpeningCeremony3 file. The color of the flag appears more accurate
in this video clip than in the photo mentioned above.

Erik Bell, December 31, 2002.

[South East Asian Games Federation flag]
image by Zoltan Horvath, 26 August 2015

During the 28th version of the SEA Games, the flag of the SEA is seen but it is
different than the one featured on the site. The one seen in

this online article dated June 8, 2015 from the Daily Mail shows the flag
actually having the name of the Federation written in white capital letters
below its symbol, as seen
here (third flag from left to right):
Source:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/08/article-doc-2s30t-6Z8VrEAIJHSK2-90_634x416.jpg

The SEAGF first flag that
Erik Bell mentioned back on December 31, 2002 featuring six rings, is
actually seen
here (first flag from left to right) in a picture
taken in Singapore during the 17th Southeast Asian Games in 1993.
Source:

https://www.seagames2015.com/~/media/sea%20games/images/about/60017th%20seap%20games_1993_countryflags.jpg
at
https://www.seagames2015.com/about/history
Esteban Rivera, 24 August 2015

There is another image of flag with better visibility.

http://www.iweb.ph/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SEA-Games-01.jpg at

http://www.iweb.ph/philippines-hosting-2019-sea-games
Zoltan Horvath, 26 August 2015

Statutes on the Federation’s flag

I’ve found the statutes of the SEA Games which describe their flag and
anthem:

Flag and emblem
“26.
(…)

a.
Both in the Stadium and its neighbourhood, the Federation Flag must be
freely flown, with the flags of the competing nations. A large Federation
Flag must fly in the Stadium during the SEA Games from a flagpole in the
area where it shall be hoisted at the moment the Games are declared open and
lowered when they are declared closed.

b.
The Federation Flag shall be of a height of two meters and width of
three meters. It shall have a light blue background with six bright yellow
gold rings in the middle. The rings shall be approximately 3/6 of the height.

c.
The light blue coloured background means the water that surrounds, or
the sky that covers the Southeast Asian Countries. The bright yellow gold
rings symbolize the six original Southeast Asian Countries. They are
intertwined to denote friendship, brotherly love and unity of purpose. See
back cover for the geographic and graphic details of the emblem.
If additional nations are added, or if some are deleted the original design
of the flag shall remain unchanged. No attempt will be made to identify any
particular nation with any particular ring. The Flag is completely
reversible.

(…)”

Reported by Erik Bell, February 13, 2003

23rd South-East Asian Games: Manila 2005

The 23rd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) being held
in the Philippines was officially opened on Sunday in
Manila. Some flag related observations while watching
the ceremony broadcasted on television.
The parade of nations saw flag bearers carrying their
respective national flags as is customary during the
ceremony. For this purpose, all flags were made in
equal proportions from what I could visualise. They
were all quite elongated, likely to be in the
proportion of 1:2, which works naturally for
Brunei Darussalam,
Malaysia
and the host
Philippines, but elongated for
Myanmar,
Singapore,
Cambodia,
Vietnam,
Indonesia,
Laos,
Thailand and
Timor Leste.
Interestingly during the ceremony, Malaysia had not one but three
flag bearers, unlike other contingents which had only
one. The Laotian flag was strangely made to look
more like an equal horizontal tri-band – the rightmost flag).
I was quite sure that their
white disc was a tad too small.
Herman FMY, November 2005

[28th South East Asian Games flag]
image by Zoltan Horvath, 26 August 2015

The 28th SEA Games were held from 5 to 16 June 2015, although several events
had commenced from 29 May 2015.
Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Southeast_Asian_Games
For additional information go to: 28th
SEA Games (official website)
http://www.seagames2015.com/
The games’ flag is the

logo on a white horizontal flag, as seen
here (first picture from left to
right):
Sources:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/08/article-doc-2s30t-6Z8VrEAIJHSK2-90_634x416.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3115746/Flags-half-mast-Singapore-mourns-Malaysia-quake-victims.html

Esteban Rivera, 24 August 2015