ស៊ីហ្គេម ២០១៣: Concerns and controversies

Concerns and controversies
Event cut down
 The inclusion of Chinlone, an indigenous traditional Burmese sport is not sitting well with many nations and the exclusion of Olympic disciplines sports like gymnastics and tennis infuriated quite a few competing nations, and has became one of the controversial issues heading before the 27th Southeast Asian Games.
 The host nation also include Sittuyin, a traditional Burmese chess, as a traditional chess number along with common chess competition number. Other competing nations are not familiar with this traditional Burmese chess.
 Due to the reduction of a number of Olympic sports and addition of non-Olympic sports and sports wherein the host country excels, the Philippines decided to send only its top athletes instead of a full-house delegation as in the previous games. The Philippines will be sending 208 athletes only, the smallest delegation since the 1999 Brunei SEA Games, which its smallest delegation in 14 years.

Controversial decision
 The 100m freestyle swimming event for women which was held on December 12 was restarted after Thailand protested and appealed for a re-swim. Thailand claimed that its swimmer participating in the sporting event stopped in the middle of the event after hearing the second horn which signaled a false start. The other swimmers did not stop and the race was not interrupted. Pinky Brosas, national head coach of the Philippine national swimming team criticized the organizers for not interrupting the race and noted that the officials did not put down the 50m flag.Jasmine Alkhadi PH Swimmer Gold Medalist Nullified | Philippine NewsSEA Games: Alkhaldi gold recalled after Thailand protest; re-swim scheduled | Sports | GMA News Online
 In the kata team event for women, the Vietnamese team has protested the decision of the jurors, which gave the gold medal to the host team (Myamnar). Subsequently, the juror committee had to have a meeting and admitted their mistakes. They released an apology to Vietnamese women kata team for their faults but the decision of juror could not be changed. Vietnamese media called this incident as a "gold medal robbery", which regularly occurs within SEA Games.Trọng tài karatedo thừa nhận VN mất oan HC vàng - VnExpress
 In the Pencak Silat Men's 55–60 kg, the committee didn't give the gold medal that had to be given to Indonesia after Mohammad Adhan won the final against Ye Kyaw Thu from Myanmar because Myanmar protested the decision of the jurors decision, and even their protest being rejected by the jurors, the committee still keep the medal and instead of cancelling  all of Men's 55–60 kg Tarung event result.
 In the football event for women, the coach of Myanmar women's national football team has vowed to make an official complaint over the alleged lack of expertise of the Indian referee, Maria Rebello, during the team’s SEA Games defeat on penalties to Thailand. Burmese fans were outraged by decisions that disallowed a Burma goal for offside but allowed a contentious goal by Thailand to stand.

Alleged racial discrimination in sports
 About a day before the games began, the Burmese authorities deselected two Chin athletes who were gold medallists in national events.
 In addition to the above, a third Chin athlete was deselected a month previously.