Badminton at the 1981 SEA Games was held at Camp Crame Gymnasium, Quezon City, Philippines. Badminton events was held between 6 December to 15 December.

Medal winners

Events	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's singles	Liem Swie King	Hastomo Arbi	Misbun Sidek
			Sarit Pisudchaikul
Women's singles	Verawaty Fajrin	Ivanna Lie	Katherine Swee Phek Teh
			Suleeporn Jittariyakul
Men's doubles	Rudy Heryanto Hariamanto Kartono	Jalani Sidek Razif Sidek	Sigit Pamungkas Icuk Sugiarto
			Sawei Chanseorasmee Sarit Pisudchaikul
Women's doubles	Ruth Damayanti Verawaty Fajrin	Theresia Widiastuti Imelda Wiguna	Ho Kam Meng Tay Hoe See
			Suleeporn Jittariyakul Sirisriro Patama
Mixed doubles	Rudy Heryanto Imelda Wiguna	Sigit Pamungkas Theresia Widiastuti	Razif Sidek Leong Choi Lean
			Preecha Sopajaree Jutatip Banjongsilp
Men's Team	Indonesia	Malaysia	Thailand
			Burma
Women's team	Indonesia	Thailand	Malaysia
			Philippines

Final results

Discipline	Winner	Finalist	Score
Men's singles	Liem Swie King	Hastomo Arbi	15–2, 15–7
Women's singles	Verawaty Fadjrin	Ivana Lie	6–11, 11–4, 11–7
Men's doubles	Rudy Heryanto & Kartono	Jalani Sidek & Razif Sidek	15–12, 15–6
Women's doubles	Ruth Damayanti & Verawaty Fadjrin	Theresia Widiastuti & Imelda Wiguno	15–13, 15–4
Mixed doubles	Rudy Heryanto & Imelda Wiguno	Sigit Pamungkas & Theresia Widiastuti	15–12, 15–5

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Indonesia (INA)	7	4	1	12
2	Malaysia (MAS)	0	2	4	6
3	Thailand (THA)	0	1	6	7
4	Burma (BIR)	0	0	1	1
	Philippines (PHI)	0	0	1	1
	Singapore (SIN)	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		7	7	14	28

External links

• Results The Straits Times, 13 December 1981, p. 30
• Results The Straits Times, 14 December 1981, Page 38