Taking home 65 gold, 84 silver and 111 bronze medals, the Indonesian contingent secured only half of the projected 120 golds targeted by the government.
However, Sports Minister Roy Suryo said he was not blaming the athletes for coming up short.
"I have to admit that we failed in Myanmar. On behalf of the government, I apologize and will be responsible for the poor result," Roy said at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
"We all know the athletes had to deal with poor preparation. Besides, other circumstances also served to put them at a sort of disadvantage," he added.
The “poor preparation” alluded to included the nonpayment of salaries to athletes, often for several months on end, and lack of funding to participate in pre-Games competitions or buy training equipment.
Despite its status as a regional martial arts powerhouse, Indonesia failed in most of the martial arts competitions, except pencak silat, wushu and kempo.
The karate team, which took 10 gold medals two years ago, only managed two in Myanmar, while the pencak silat team won four golds, compared to nine in 2011.
The wushu team met its target with four gold, though that number was down from the eight it won two years ago.
The kempo team contributed seven gold medals, while the judo and taekwondo teams returned home empty-handed.
Officials claimed that they were robbed by unfair decisions that gave the Myanmar team a huge advantage.
While some officials sought solace in blaming match officials, others were able to bask in the glory of an unexpected haul.
"It’s a surprising result because we exceeded our target of two golds,” said grand master Irine Kharisma Sukandar, who won two of the chess team’s five gold medals.
"It’s such a good achievement when you consider how powerful the home team is. It shows we worked well as a team because each of us came home with at least one medal. Our hard work has been not in vain," she added.
Meanwhile, others complained that they needed better preparation for their respective events, like the men’s volleyball team, which lost to Thailand in the final.
"Our team’s goal was at least to reach the final and I wanted to retain gold. But Thailand is a strong team," said team member Ayip, who won gold in 2011.
"We just hope our team can have a better preparation for the next Games. The volleyball federation [the PBVSI] meeds to keep young players coming through while starting the training camp earlier.
"The core of the Thai team has been together since 2008, and that is the kind of continuity we are sadly lacking. If we can do that, then it’s not impossible that the gold will be ours again."
Indonesia also failed in many of the Olympic sports, such as athletics and archery. The track-and-field team only got six gold medals and archery team two.
Lawmaker Utut Adianto voiced his concern over the contingent’s performance in the Olympic sports.
"To be honest, I don’t mind at all about the medal achievement. What comes to my attention is our athletes’ achievements in the Olympic sports, such as athletics,” said Utut, Indonesia’s first chess grand master.
"The SEA Games should not be the pinnacle of our achievements. It should be seen as only the first step on the ladder. We need to be looking more at the Asian Games and the Olympics as our priority as other Asean nations do."
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