Choo Zheng Xi / Editor-in-Chief
TOC Op-ed
It’s hard trying to explain the heady excitement I felt watching yesterday evening’s table tennis match. My friends and I were having our dinner at Jumbo Seafood and watching the live telecast of the match. Pieces of chili crab were flying as we cheered the Singapore team on, pumping our fists at every point scored, and thumping them at every one lost.I must admit I’m not a big sports fan, and I’m more knowledgeable about cabinet ministers’ idiosyncrasies than the rules of table tennis, but my friends and I were inspired enough to briefly contemplate picking it up recreationally.
Later in the evening over supper, patriotic fervor fading like a half-remembered dream, my friend turned to me and asked: “What do you think about this foreign talent thing ah? Quite cheapskate right?” The jingoistic pride we’d felt over chili crab had given way to a hardnosed discussion on our sports’ foreign talent policy.
If we rationalize our objections to importing foreign talent to win Olympic medals, the criticisms would be legion. The logical extreme of our Government’s foreign talent spotting policy is this: that with Singapore’s wealth, we could poach top talent from any country in any sport. This could seriously erode the value of a future Olympic medal.
What pride would Singaporeans feel if we won the next Olympic table tennis finals by buying over the entire victorious Chinese team? We could become overnight marathon champions by buying an African marathon team, bring in a gold-standard Chinese gymnastics team to keep our paddlers company, and if we’re willing to dip into our reserves, might even be able to afford Michael Phelps.
Experiential patriotism
A purely mercenary sports foreign talent policy running unchecked is frightening. It runs the risk of devaluing what I’ve identified as that most important pillar of patriotism, experiential patriotism.
Part of the reason we feel a sense of belonging to the country is pure coincidence: it’s where we were born, and grew up. We identify with it because its landmarks, food, people, language, are all blended seamlessly into what we associate in our consciousness with our country. Our experiences form a strong basis of attachment to our country, and this what we call patriotism.
By extension, we feel a sense of kinship with those who share these common mental markers.
This explains why we instinctively feel a surge of pride in Singapore’s first Olympian medalist, Tan Howe Liang. In the 1950s, Tan had no cash-awash Singapore Sports Association to finance his weightlifting hobby. He paid for his own training and expenses by working as a clerk at Cathay Organisation. After his Olympic win, there was no bounty for him to take. Tan tried unsuccessfully to start a restaurant business, before becoming a taxi driver for a period of time. He now lives in a three-room Housing Development Board (HDB) flat.
If there was ever a sporting legend whose tale mirrored the gritty reality of the Singaporean Everyman, Tan Howe Liang is it. His fairy tale is of the Brother’s Grimm, not the Walt Disney variety.
Contrast that with our new Singaporean Olympians, Feng Tian Wei, Li Jia Wei, and Wang Yue Gu. All three were brought into Singapore in their teens for a very specific purpose: to help Singapore win an Olympic medal. Feng Tian Wei was only brought into Singapore in 2007, and all three became naturalised citizens to assuage Singapore’s hunger for Olympic success.
The discomfort many Singaporeans feel over our female Olympic table tennis team’s success essentially boils down to this: the paddlers haven’t shared the pleasure and pain ordinary Singaporeans have growing up in Singapore. At the Olympic final, they had far more in common experientially with their opponents than they did with Singaporean fans.
Regardless of race, language or religion
Personally, I don’t really care that they were born mainland Chinese. What matters most to me is that they now wear our national colours. And while our paddlers did not share the formative experiences of many Singaporeans, I see much of the Singapore story in them.
If our nation looked itself in the mirror, we might realize that their experiences mirror the sense of nostalgia and social displacement our forefathers felt first arriving on our shores. Even the quintessentially-Singaporean Mr Tan was born in a village in Shantou, China.
Moving ahead, the debate over their roots reflects an increasingly-evolving Singapore Experience. New migrants are coming into Singapore at an increasingly fast rate, not just to play sport but to enter universities as friends, our workplaces as colleagues, and everywhere, yes, as competitors.
The rate of this influx is definitely something we need to regulate carefully. My personal sense is that we are importing talent at too fast a pace. However, I think the principle of the foreign talent policy is sound: if we can’t beat them, get them to join us, and when they become citizens, welcome them without qualification as one of our own.
While the word “Singapore” might conjure up different memories and connotations for Jia Wei and her team, at the end of the day they are taking the field wearing our national colours. While they may not have shared our experiences, the table tennis team shares a common hope and dream all Singaporeans do: to bring an Olympics medal back for our country.
While I feel some discomfort at the policy that brought them here, I can’t help but cheer our Team Singapore on with pride, regardless of their race, language or religion.
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The real danger of the Foreign Talent Sports scheme is that eventually, all of our national athletes will be foreign born, and will totally wiped out local born players. We may become world contenders inn table tennis, swimming, track & field, badminton, you name it you have it, but at the expense of totally writing off our local born players even if they have the potential since all money and resources will be spend on talent spotting overseas, and no attention paid to locals. This will be a self fulfilling prophecy that local talents does not made the grade. This, in time to come, will even spread to sports that we are already good at, and the next Team Singapore will be actually a Team “UN” or simply Team “China B”.
A Singapore without Singaporeans, it is now happening in Team Singapore.
I absolutely hate this policy. While our ministers ponder over whether the poor 80 year old lady deserves $300 or $400 per month in assistance, here we have our ministers pouring out millions to send top china women and coaches to Japan for a ‘retreat’ to help win a medal for Singapore.
It does not matter that Tan Howe Liang was born in China – he worked his butt and he is our hero. Now taxpayer’s money which the government says is not unlimited, cos we are not a welfare state – well, more of it will be spent on FT sportsmen over the next few years.
How many millions more? when does it stop?
In the mean time, schools are reluctant to open up new sports for the children because they are not ‘niche areas’ – students are told not to try out for sports where they are not likely to be national champion. We need a rethink at the highest level!
No matter how the ministers explain it , the victory will always be hollow for the true blue Singaporeans born and bred on this soil of ours. Even here you can see the clinical pragmatism of the party that governs this country. Rather then betting on a green horn Singaporean, they groom talent that is already ready to give themselves to the course. As long as they don’t invest in true blue Singaporeans without any ulterior motives the gold medal will always elude the true blue Singaporean.
It is a hollow victory, a farce, a charade, basically, it is China vs China. I have always wonder if there is such a need for an Olympic medal, are we that insecure? Soon, true blue S’poreans will be pushed out of the way for instant quick fix to sporting achievements. We were recently reminded abt our unhealthy obsession with school grades, what abt medals?
As much as we have a love-hate relationship w foreign talent,
It hit me, when I saw the facial expressions on Li Jiawei’s face yesterday, that, with the years she had spent in Singapore, she was slowly, but surely Singaporeanizing.
These imports can’t even sing Majulah Singapura when the flag is being raised.
What’s the use of winning a Olympic medal, when the winner is just imported talent.
I would rather an imported FT coached an actual S’porean athlete to the olympics than to pay millions to get some FT to represent Singapore. Our FT policy is too open, FT maids, FT workers, FT managers, FT professionals, sooner or later we won’t have citizens anymore. it’ll be FT PAPs, FT citizens. What’s the use of spending millions to these FTs when there’s no pride in the medals brought home.
Honestly speaking, the win does not prove the sportmanship in Singapore. We can thank the FT sportmen and women to win for the country but deep-down in our heart, can we sincerely agree that this medal genuinely brought victory that is to be recorded down in Singapore history?
I would rather have our country to nurture a true Singaporean, not brought into the country to just win a medal in the future:be it in the next Olympic games, or in the decade or in the century to come. We can wait, can’t we?
Since the trend for big corporation is to hire outsourced services, I see no surprise that Singapore Inc is doing the same to get that elusive Olympic medal. Its great that the table tennis team got their Silver medal and I congratulate them for all their efforts.
However upon seeing them during the medal presentation, the feeling I had was nothing short than just like seeing my favourite football club winning the Champions League. A football club made up of talented individuals from all over the world with the priority to be champions in whatever competition they are involved in. This fails in comparison the emotions and feelings I experience I had when I’m watching the Lions play in the SEA games (back in the 80s-90s before the Under-23 rule and the foreign policy came in place). Even though the Lions only managed a bronze or silver back them, and ignoring the fact that its just a regional tournament, I had a colossal sense of pride and patriotism for them. This partly due to the fact that I can relate to these players unlike the local sports team of today.
If Malaysia have their very own Lee Chong Wei, Thailand with Jaraoenrattannatarakoon, and Jamaica with their ladies trio that swept the 100m finals, I cannot see why Singapore with our outstanding sporting infrastructure can’t locally produce such athletes as well. I don’t support this foreign policy in sports and the Sports Association’s obsession to get an Olympic medal as fast they can. I’d rather wait another 50 years for a true born and bred Singaporean on that podium.
To quote Malaysia’s term: “Majulah Sukan Untuk Negera”.
I refuse to use the term Foreign Talent. I prefer to use the term Foreign Worker or Immigrant.
I prefer the approach adopted in America, where they welcome immigrations (if they meet their needs) and treat them with warmth and respect. This will encourage the immigrants to stay for the long term and adopt the culture of their adopted country.
Perhaps, we should adopt the same approach?
We have to start treating our own people well, especially those at the poorer strata of our society. We can extend the same generous treatment to the immigrants. This will help them to assimilate better in Singapore.
The table tennis ladies team final was a China Vs China affair. As mentioned by CZX, we can easily buy such talents. Do we have to wait for another 48 years before a true blue Singapore-born person become an Olympian?
I think the government and sports authority should seriously think of recognizing and rewarding Tan Howe Liang, the only Olympian we have, while he is still alive. Instead of eulogies and singing hollow paeans when he is gone. It was very heart-breaking for me to see him working in the food centre in SIA a few decades ago.
there’s a chinese saying…”using other people backside and stick on our face” So what’s the big deal? national pride? who’s kidding who? more jobs for us?
I think this article, in essence, is spot on.
Singapore, like the US, is built upon a migrant history and culture. This sets the backdrop of our multicultural society, which many would argue, is exactly what the Singapore identity stems from.
I personally think it would be a betrayal of the Singapore spirit to dismiss the contribution of migrants who are simply trying to earn more money than they otherwise would in their native countries, since that’s exactly what our forefathers did.
Often times, a country’s identity comes from a dogged determination to hold on to its history, albeit anachronistically. Think the right to bear arms in the US. Although Singapore is a country least guilty of sentimental cultural preservation, I think that the migrant policy is an element of the past that we should continue to hold on to. After all, it is that which has made Singapore the success that it is today.
I m afraid Ah Choo is missing the bigger picture. The players R part of the policy, one whole package. U can’t separate the parts n just say the policy has problem, N then say U support the instruments used to implement the policy. Dat’s political incoherence.
At best, U can say U dun hate the instruments, U can remain neutral twds the instruments. U can even criticize the instruments fer allowing 2b used.
But once u hurray the instruments, cheer the instruments, U indirectly support the policy. Dat’s the reality of human civilization.
Again I have queried and pondered numerous times this question:
What is the purpose of achieving the Olympic medal? Is it self-glory, to put Singapore onto the International sports scene? At what expense and at what cost?
Look, bring in FTs, or whatever you call it to beef up the sporting skills of the locals. The whole purpose of having FTs is because a local cannot fill the slot or meet to the requirements.
If the government’s dream to have just one Olympic medal, well they’ve got it. Good for them. Now what? More FTs to get more medals? When does it stop? Where do our locals go who just want to enjoy that sport but want to compete at an international level?
If the government’s dream to enhance the skill level, by all means, bring the FTs in. But for God’s sake, don’t forget our locals. The whole purpose is to bring up the skill level of that sport.
However in the light of how the government has been portraying itself, I think it is for self-glorification of achieving something like a trophy, instead of national pride. The grouse is not FT, but the government’s way of handling the FT policies.
Anyway congrats to the table-tennis team. They did really well and yes, I am proud of their achivements. Go, Jiawei and team. You did Singapore proud!
Cheers,
Kaffein
Its like deja vu…..whatever it takes in the pursuit to be Numero Uno. Spending $$$ buying foreign talents, we have made a quantum leap in sporting excellence….but does the end justify the means? Are we seling short?
I for one am tired of this government’s obsession that SG has to be first in everything.
> 13) Winston on August 18th, 2008 10.30 am After all, it is that which has made Singapore the success that it is today.
Thinking aloud and after reading a very nice article of yours. Which person would you root for more.
a) Someone who you may not even know but has gone through two full years of national service.
b) Someone who has come into a system through some short-cut process by virtue of some friendly policy and won us a Gold medal in some international game.
Well, not easy right. Somehow somewhere, deep inside our heart. Each of us has our own answer.
Jamaica with a population of 2.7 millions and a GDP per capital of $4,300 (world’s 114th) can produce the 2008 Olympic’s fastest men (1st, 5th and 6th) and fastest women (1st, 2nd and 3rd) in the 100 metres sprint.Why must
Singapore with a population of 4.6 millions and a GDP per capital of $49,714 (world’s 5th) import foreign talents from the world’s most populous nation to produce a silver medalists.Come on Singapore, where is our next Tan Howe Liang in us? Let’s show the world we can do it on our own.
Local born will never achieve in the sports arena because govt and parents emphasise our children must study hard, in O, A and Uni. so no point work hard in sports. This is our priority. You can’t create another Fandi Ahmad, because of our mindset.
As far as I am concerned our defining moment in sports history was winning the Malaysia Cup.
It was won by Singaporeans for Singaporeans
But what happen to our players that won it ? They didn’t get any bonus, rewards etc …not like our FT players.
In fact the members of the winning Malaysia Cup football squad had to hold jobs to survive.
Anyway watch the movie ” The Kallang Roar”.
I respect the last who complete the 42km run and I don’t respect the table tenis team who get the silver egg.
I congratulate the team members for their hard work in winning the medal. It is not easy, one way or another, to win an olympic medal.
However, to me (no offence intended to the silver medalists), it was a China B team that won the medal regardless of what the record books will say. While I feel happy for them and genuinely congratulate them, I feel no sense of connection or pride to their achievement.
I apologize to the Singapore flag-wavers, because I still don’t see the point of “sports-immigration”. Its not like these people grew to love Singapore so much that they wanted to play on our behalf. I would rather have had a Singapore team who went, wave our flag (properly), played their hearts out and get kicked out in the first round. In fact I feel even more ashame that we are of such shallow character that we actually BUY our atheletes to compete in the Olympics.
To me the only value of the whole affair is the Singapore Inc’s global branding exercise to show how “great” the tiny red dot is. Probably, those in-charge hope that those “naive” freedom chanting detractors int the West will be in awe that a tiny company of 4m can produce olympic medalists of such calibre. It is a show-off of the superiority of our much vaunted system – the same system that causes so much dread in their hearts that makes them “hate us” intensely.
In my view, this is just an instance of people up there spending big bucks on self-aggrandizement projects, that do absolutely nothing for the common man.
I also think its also a cover-up of a system that has generated a robot-like efficient population, who are bred to excel at scoring “A”s in exams, plug-and-play into the civil service, GLCs and MNCs as good managers and workers, but at the expense of many other things.
I also hope (real) Singaporeans see it for what it is – no different from the communists pumping their atheletes up with steroids and drugs to win medals or even the nazi’s trying to breed a super-race.
One word – Perverse.
Dear Robert Tan,
Yup the Malaysia Cup win was certainly great! Though I do hope you are referring to the team back in the 70s and early 80s.
Cause the 1994 final win was partly due to the performance of one Abbas Saad’s, an Australian import, striking partnership with our best football talent (and soon to be forgotten?) have ever produced, Fandi Ahmad.
Nevertheless, the win was certainly sweet! Though I was really hoping Lions to win the SEA Games Gold back in 1993 with all the locally produced talent that they had. But we all know the story for that one…
the bottom line is that the govt does not treat its citizens with the same respect as it does its imports. fantastic if you’re a medal winner and the PAP can politicise you and claim you for their own.
if you can’t produce something great for singapore that the PAP can politicise, you’re good for nothing, really. no time for you.
” it was a China B team” (post 22)
More like China Z team. No disrespect to the gals but if they were in China, what would be their rankings in CHINA and the WORLD?
Asking because
“So, for China, table tennis is at the heart of these Games. Its three male and three female players each happen to be ranked one, two and three in the world (which means that getting a place on the Chinese Olympic team is often much harder than competing at the actual Games themselves).” — BBC blog
Oh and piece is a lot better than ST’s Chua piece. Have to say this for MediaCorp. No drivel on “We are all foreigners”.
I am glad someone out there (Tan Kin Lian) agrees with me… that we should not call them Foreign ‘Talent’ automatically… they are mirgrant workers… once other opportunities come up, you can bet your last dollar they will pull out of here.
Coming back to the olympics. I don’t feel any prouder today then last week. The fact remains Feng was made a citizen in Jan ’08 ! I also think we should get good coaches to nurture local talent. So what if we don’t get a medal, its for the Citizens. This win is hollow.. it’s just Gold and Silver for China. I asked 2 colleagues who hail from the mainland, who were they cheering for during the semis – my fellow Chinese.
You can’t buy the passion and purpose of a win with money. These girls won for the money…nothing else.. please stop dreaming that this will elevate local talent.
I have something to say.
singapore was born based on some natives and immigrants.
No doubt immigrants from china and india made this country what it is today through hardwork.
That was then, this is now – a developed nation with some identity and culture created over the years. Still a young nation, and still need to enhance its culture and national identity. Influx may dilute this. The influx is great, lets admit it – 1 million at least. Burmese alone is 1/10th of a million already.
for example, if more phillipinos become residents , the culture can become more philipinonised so to speak. Singapore has been know to be chinese-dominated. maybe this will change.
I think the FT policy could become more convincing with the winning of medal. Will this mean more FT will come in years down the road ? I am confident this will happen. It means wages become more competitive downwards , more than upwards.
People are not all born with genius minds. People’s interests and ability differ. Singapore is INC and will be even more INC, in my humble opinion.
Like international MNCs, like those in USA and Europe, they have attracted millions of Asian workers who finds the currency exchange incredibly enticing. Singapore is different from USA and Europe. Foreigners can become citizens in record time , compared to those countries.
I wonder how does this affect the feelings of local born citizens especially the me who served and still serving as nsmen ? maybe they feel shiok. maybe they feel something else I do not know.
Locals born without the high talents may have a tougher time ahead. If one fails down the road, he may not have the chance to rebound. Competition may have become too great and increasing.
The phenomenon to study is the fact that singaporeans consistently, relentlessly deny any opposition to win the majority for nearly half a CENTURY. Should election be a Win All or Lose All thing? Or should it be the people’s responsibility to ensure an alternative can take over if need be? By denying the opposition any chance, is that more good or bad? PAP started out as Opposition if I am not wrong. The current status of opposition is such that they never have the chance to gain the experience like that of any minister.
If ‘opposition’ is an idea that is so bad , why is this concept in the concept of democracy? If we adopt democracy, should we not own the responsibility to enhance its capability if it is extremely weak?
I think if the people consistently deny any progress of opposition, I wonder would the people consider scrapping the idea of opposition party existence in parliment and replaced by 1 party system found elsewhere in the world?
I hope my views come across as sounding neutral as that is how i feel about it.
Talent has to be proven. Else the term becomes ‘cheap’. As in talk is cheap.
A Tan,
The Singapore FTs were ranked (in the world) 6,7 and 9th. … two of the auntie lookalike ones and Li Jiawei. I just saw this on TV this morning.
Basically the whole TT competition is China Teams A to Z. Many of the other teams were also fielding China Chinese players. I happen to come across the US roster, nearly all were Chinese. Then I saw the Netherlands roster, at least half.
Whilst I am not supportive of this sports FT policy… at least we ‘bought’ the right ones. lol
Aren’t most Singaporeans foreigners from one land or the other?? If our ancestors were not welcomed, most of us wont be able to call ourselves Singaporeans…. we would have remained in our respective home countries…
And Singapore is not the only country that poaches players…look around the world, Middle East, Europe… what is so wrong in playing the field, instead of never succeeding
Last night I was intent on watching the finals match because the semi-finals match was amazing.
After a while, I was really turned off when the commentator kept talking about how the three players from singapore were born and raised in china, how Li Jiawei actually studied in the same school as that of her opponent, etc. He next time he repeated it I stopped watching.
Well, the singapore policy-makers and media can say all they want, but it sure doesn’t fool anybody.
Not sure if anyone noticed….during laast night’s table tennis finals, the on-site commentator actually asked the spectataors to cheer the S’poe team. This is a mockery of the so-called S’pore team…..because they all know that the entire S’poe table tennis team (including the coach) is from China!!
We might as well manufacture the Olympic medals ourselves…..it’s cheaper that way.
The Straits Times is now going into overdrive, issuing one propagandistic article after another…..claiming how “proud” S’poreans are. What total rubbish.
29) turnedoff on August 18th, 2008 1.12 pm
You’re not the only one turned off. My watching of the Olympic games is spoilt by our commentator who irritatingly yaks and yaks non-stop even while play is in progress.
He should learn from foreign commentators who professionally pause when play is in progress.
Please Mr John B*****, be professional. Stop your non-stop irritating yaks and let us enjoy the games.
* IMMIGRATION IN AMERICA *
> I prefer the approach adopted in America, where they welcome immigrations (if they meet their needs) and treat them with warmth and respect. This will encourage the immigrants to stay for the long term and adopt the culture of their adopted country.
I’m sorry to say that the first statement is not entirely correct. Americans do not necessary treat all immigrants with warm and respect.
“A large proportion of recent immigrants, both legal and illegal, are low-skilled workers and about one-third of those have not completed high school, giving them significantly less education than Americans born in the United States, according to the study, which is based on census data as recent as March of this year.” (IHT, 29 Nov 2007, http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/29/america/immig.php)
In fact, minorities in US are projected to become the majority by 2042 (IHT, 14 Aug 2008, http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/14/america/census.php)
Americans welcome immigrants, both legal and illegal, because:
1 – These immigrants contribute to the economy. Illegal immigrants, in fact, the economy relies heavily on them to become cheap labour. There are so many of them that the issue of whether to deport or grant citizenship is a major point of debate in the current presidential election.
2 – The openness (non-discrimination) towards new people has been made ingrained by their history. It is as true as the bold statement of “there is no America without immigrants”.
At the same time, new immigrants come to America exactly for its economy prosperity and its openness towards harbouring new people.
* NEED FOR IMMIGRATION *
America is not only the country which has its majority population made up pby immigrants. So do Canada, Australia, Taiwan, and, of course, Singapore.
Even in countries where natives are the majority, immigration is becoming a trend for economic needs and to replenish the aging population (which is also an economic reason). It is met with resistance, mostly from conservative parties, but the need is nevertheless real.
For instance, the European Union is aiming to attract up to 20 million African and Asian immigrants. In UK, “at least 70 per cent of the population rise over the next 20 years will be attributable directly to immigration”.
(Telegraph, 19 Apr 2008, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567068/Record-immigration-sees-UK-population-soar.html
* IMMIGRATION IN SINGAPORE *
As a third generation Chinese-Singaporean, I already do not see China as my country. I see myself belonging to the same nation as my Malay- and Indian-Singaporean friends and NS buddies.
* Assimilation
This common sense of belonging does not come easy at all. As a matter of fact, even the Chinese Han race is the result of centuries of assimilation. To cite an example closer to heart, my parents come from different Chinese dialect groups, but not their parents (i.e. my grandparents). It takes a generation even for Chinese-Singaporeans from different (southern) dialect groups to assimilate. It takes time. Furthermore, the surge in immigrants is sudden. (It might be the government’s oversight. I would rather the government start the process earlier but more gradual)
* Our Olympic Medalists
Would I be more proud if the Olympic medalists were at least second generation immigrants (i.e. are born locally)? Yes, I will. But do I at least appreciate their hard work to achieve a medal? Yes, I do. I see tham as first generation Singaporeans. Afterall, they come to Singapore for its opportunities like my grandparents and Mr Tan Howe Liang did.
(FYI, Tan Howe Liang is also born in China)
Yes, I am all for it – hate the policy, love the paddler.
Yes, its no fault of the paddler to be ‘hated’ by Singaporeans. A lot of hardwork, stress, sacrifices needed for this achievement – no easy meat !! I believe those paddlers also do so for the love of the game as their personal interest (take away $$ form here first). Of course if they claim they do for Singapore that’s another matter (who knows on the surface, they can’t say something different after all no one usually talk bad about their bosses right).
Can I urge fellow TOC-ers not to use this forum to belittle personal achievements as opposed to national-glory-which-can-be-bought-by-money !!
As such then, it should be appropriate to salute our Tan How Liang instead.
Singapore is the only country with the ENTIRE TT TEAM including coaches made up of new citizens (Hong Kong doesn’t count as it is part of China). And what percentage of our Olympic team is made up of foreigners? More than 50%? Which other country has this high foreigner makeup?
I am not deluded that these girls won the medals for Singapore. They won it for themselves, period. Table tennis is their career, their life. If they aren’t good enough for China, then they simply look for another country to pursue their career. It is a business transaction, we give them money and opportunity, they sell us a medal. They don’t have any pride representing Singapore and I don’t expect them to.
Li Jiawei says it best when she said that as a Beijing native and a Chinese (as in nationality, not race), she hopes to win a medal on her homeground.
http://fireopal82.blogspot.com/2008/08/identity-crisis.html
Most people from my grandparents generation are immigrants. But it seems to me that singapore will forever be a migrant’s country, I don’t see how can we progress as a nation where there is no value other than economic ones attached to a pink ic.
“30) Livin’it Up on August 18th, 2008 12.48 pm If our ancestors were not welcomed, most of us wont be able to call ourselves Singaporeans…. we would have remained in our respective home countries…”
Our ancestors did not come here to play table tennis lah. I can’t say for sure whether they were invited to come here with open arms.
For any matter, they definitely came here with great risk, if you still remember WW2. In fact, while they alive, I heard bad stories from them about life here. So did you hear any stories from your ancestors.
right now that we have spent that millions on getting an olympic medal, let us stop this silliness and stop spending this money, please. Get on with the job of making more good years come true, esp for those in 80th percentile in terms of salary. PAP knows their salary has dropped over the past 10 years!!
It matter not that ALL other countries are doing it – we need not be so wasteful of our hard earned reserves, esp when many agrees this split the country even more!
it was China A vs China Z, with Z proudly and generously sponsored by Singapore taxpayers, thank you. I thought one of the Singapore players was mouthing the China anthem when it was being played – was I dreaming???
With the influx of these migrant workers / foreign talent (whatever the label used) that come here and of those that do decide to settle down as citizens (not PRs), their children will also be subjected to the same pressures of being educated and living here just like any other true blue Singaporean.
Is this not going back to square one whereby pursing a sports career seems to be a less attractive option as it is now? It seems like a vicious cycle.
A little clarification is necessary, especially since many commonly assume local talents are sidelined in favour of FTs in sports.
The key reason behind the large numbers of FTs is because local talents sideline themselves. Sure we can build a ‘pure’ Team Singapore, easily at least regional-class. However, many of these talents when identified in their youth are also intelligent and diligent students.
The strict and demanding regimen of training for athletic glory inevitably compromises on their academic progress. For themselves and their parents, the choice is often glaringly clear: qualifications come before medals. The Singapore Sports Council wants dearly for Singaporeans to win their own medals, but the closed conservative mentality is working against that.
The Singapore Sports School is an attempt at a compromise between the 2 almost mutually exclusive courses. We can hope that its programme works, and if it does we will perhaps see a ‘more’ Singaporean team in the future.
Till then, we shall have to live with FTs winning our medals for us. In the unfortunate circumstance that success in both the stadium and examination hall prove beyond us, then we had best get used to facing such a sports arena.
real singapore heroes – tan howe liang or singapore present table tennis team ? get real ppl – its tan howe liang. there was a time when singapore wins the malaysia cup there was a time we have pat chan, junie sng n joycelyn yeo there was a time we have fandi ahmad adeline wee n grace young. true blood heartlanders which we call our own.
li jiawei wang yuegu n feng tianwei face the real world n get the real facts of singapore heartlands feel for u n not from others who have vested interest. so get real foreign talents for real money is the real reason for ur committment in tis land or any others.
moral of the story?
next time when i am about to sit for any exams that i know i am ill prepared or can’t perform well, i just …ahem….hired somebody ‘smart’ to take my place.
hmm…hope it can legalized soon?
39) I salute my ancestors on August 18th, 2008 2.20 pm
Our ancestors did not come here to play table tennis lah.
Perhaps not for table – tennis but for economic progression, better opportunities a better quality for themselves and their children ( if the tables are turned and we wanted to emigrate elsewhere, and citizens of the other country reacted in the same way as we are, towards you and me)
I can’t say for sure whether they were invited to come here with open arms.
From the looks of it – it does not seem like our silver- medal winning sportswomen are welcomed here with open arms either. Perhaps, we could accept them, like our ancestors were.
For any matter, they definitely came here with great risk, if you still remember WW2. In fact, while they alive, I heard bad stories from them about life here. So did you hear any stories from your ancestors.
We will in a different era with different risks, needless to say when people decide to emigrate from their home country to leave behind everything and everyone they know of, it is no easy decision. It’s a bit like being the new kid in school, probably worse.
In an increasing globalised world, immigration is inescapable, the same views of dilution of our culture is echoed in the UK & Europe with centuries of history and heritage. But both you and me know that Singapore and the Singapore ethos is very different from 40 years ago, the younger generation don’t have the same stories of hobbies as the older generation, hence how much of the change is due to the influx foreign talent as opposed to a change in our times?
At the end of the day, we should integrate foreigners into our cultures and lifestyles. Teach them the things we love as Singaporeans despite our races, like our food or our shopping and/or Singlish
If we sideline them, we will have ghettos of people living marginalised amongst our community, which create greater social problems. (like in Belgium, France, UK, Ireland)
Let’s move on & take it from the Foreign Talent Sports scheme ….it’s about time we import some Foreign Talent MPs…nationality / loyalty should not be a problem – just give them citizenship before GE
Why not be bolder as the governement always said, they do not fear to institute unpopular policies, outsource the whole cabinet, replace PM, MM etc with FT’s, feasible right. Haha, see how the eat their words.
Yeah!!!! What it means is that we can win medals via this policy…..great……
Let’s buy some brazilians, italians, argentinians etc to form our football team…buy Asafa Powell or the Bolt guy to win the 100m….buy whoever we want for whatever medal we want…. not bad what……. got medal, take the attention away from the issues at home….. “wag the dog”….
Look out world….S.A. 2010, London 2012 here we Singapore comes……yeah…..
While we are at it can we also buy some skaters or skiers for Winter Olympics? Must have balance mah…. How about youth olympics? Got buy anyone or not?
It’s rather apparent, judging from the comments here, how people feel towards imported achievements. Perhaps there is a much loftier reason behind the use of imported talents that the average citizens are unaware of, but nevertheless, the ‘shame’ felt would certainly diminish the shine in the medal.
Leaders ought to be sensitive to the citizen’s sentiments and…non citizens as well though they themselves feel no shame.
Let me be the devil’s advocate…of sorts..
I think it is important for us to distinguish between the policy and the person. The sadness I feel about all the criticisms about the foreign talent issue is that a lot of it is directed at the people – the foreigners, such as the table-tennis players and all.
Everyone in the world looks for a better life. Thousands seek out the USA as a utopia of sorts. Millions have migrated there throughout the years. If ever S’pore gets into trouble, I am sure many of those cirticising the govt now will also look for a better place. In fact many already do.
That is the nature of being human – wanting a better life for oneself and his family. Thus, there really is nothing wrong with that. So, we should try and distinguish that from the policy.
The policy itself is not totally flawed – but it is the implementation of it that is hopelessly flawed. For a start, letting in such a huge influx of foreigners (many of whom would not classify as “talented”), is causing a lot of problems – cultural, social, economic and even in day to day life (just look at the transport system and the many foreign commuters who are straining our infrastructure).
So, lets keep our critique on the policy rather than the people (the foreigners) who are doing what any human being would do – seeking a better life for himself and his family.
olympics is a sporting event that gives each country across the globe to field the sportsmen and sportswomen that each have groomed. that undeniably is the essence of olympics.
now singapore in its unique way is trying to field athletes that it has “bought”. this is not an issue about immigration. many countries field athletes not born in their soil but were groomed in sports in their soil. when singapore first got this short cut ideas, it was after France’s victory at world cup where many French players were not born in France. but what Singapore chose to ignore is that those players were groomed in the French sports culture.
hence the gold, silver or bronze medal represents the overall standard of the sporting culture of the country that won the medal. in our case our table tennis team does not represent the standard of sporting culture in Singapore.
they are not a product of the sports training a Singaporean receives from primary school to uni and thereafter. they are not a product of the coaches in Singapore. the Singapore sports facilities, as a form of training grounds, will not be a contributing factor to their high standards.
if they had not come to singapore but gone to dubai or spain, they will still be winning those medals. so the real victory is to China not to Singapore. we are so used to commercializing or monetarizing everything in this country. but it will not be easy when it comes to sports even though the olympic body may recognize the medal recipient country. since not everyone is going to accept that its a true Singapore victory, it will remain as an uncertain victory in the history books.