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The Southeast Asian Games officially kick off today in Vientiane, Laos, and the 364-strong Indonesian contingent is aiming to finish at least one better this time than its fourth place at the last biennial Games.

“In 2007, we crawled to fourth. It’s a good result, but not enough. We must improve it again before facing the 2011 games in Indonesia,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last week during a send-off ceremony for the team.

Third-place perhaps looks too modest for the biggest country in the region but, as Yudhoyono said in his speech at Merdeka Palace: It’s one step at a time.

Indonesia has won the SEA Games nine times since the event’s inception in Kuala Lumpur in 1977, replacing the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games. But the last time Indonesia topped the medal tally was 10 years ago when hosting the event in Jakarta. It finished fifth in Manila in 2005, and it moved up to fourth in Thailand in 2007 with 56 gold medals, 64 silvers and 82 bronzes.

Indonesian sports officials have emphasized their intention to get back on top when the country hosts the 2011 SEA Games in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Palembang. And they see the Laos Games as an important stepping-stone.

To meet the target, the State Ministry for Sports and Youth Affairs introduced a new athlete development program last year — the High Performance Program (PAL) — in addition to the usual national training camps. The Laos Games will show whether the program’s elite athletes live up to expectations.

For the Laos Games, the Indonesian Olympic Council (KOI) has sent a 364-strong squad to compete in 22 of the 25 events being held. The team is a mix of veteran gold medalists and youngsters cutting their teeth for 2011.

To finish third, Djoko Pramono, deputy chief of the KOI, predicted the Indonesian team would have to win at least 50 golds from the 379 up for grabs. That is fewer than the team took home from Thailand but, due to a lack of facilities in Laos, teams will compete in only 28 disciplines compared to the 43 in Nakhon Ratchasima two years ago.

Djoko said he was optimistic the target could be achieved, though there are two problems that could derail the plans. The first is the athlete quota system, adopted for the first time in the Games because Laos said it could not accommodate more athletes. The second potential obstacle — which has blighted past events — is the familiar problem of dubious judging.

Djoko cited the example of men’s welterweight taekwondo contender Basuki Nugraha. In the 2007 semifinal, Thailand’s Dam Srichan clearly hit Basuki in the face but the infraction went unpunished by the judges, he said.

On a separate occasion, six Filipino boxers walked off in protest against the judging. Thailand won all 10 boxing golds.

“We don’t want the situation in Thailand two years ago happening again in Laos,” he said.

Badminton and athletics, which produced seven golds each in Thailand, will still be Indonesia’s best hopes for medals.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia rested national players for the SEA Games instead of sending them to compete in the season-ending Masters Finals in Malaysia.

On the track, sprinter Suryo Agung Wibowo, hurdler Dedeh Erawati and long-distance runner Trianingsih will look to repeat the five golds they took home from Thailand two years ago.

“So far this year I have yet to reach my peak performance,” Dedeh said in an interview last week. “But I believe it will come in Laos. I’ll try to raise the Red and White again at the SEA Games.”

On Monday, two days before the Laos Games officially opens, Indonesia’s men’s water polo team won the country’s first medal.

It was only a bronze, but, as the president said: One step at a time.