On 22 May 1958, delegates from the countries in Southeast Asian Peninsula attending the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, met and agreed to establish a sports organization. The South East Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games rationale was created as a regional sports event that would help promote co-operation, understanding, and relations among countries in the Southeast Asian region. Six countries, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Thailand and the South Vietnam agreed to hold the Games biennially in June 1959 and the SEAP Games Federation Committee was formed thereafter.
After the 8th SEAP Games in 1975, the SEAP Federation admitted Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines, changing their name to the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF), and the games were known as the Southeast Asian Games.
