A woman, who wishes to be known as “Bystander”, is so upset with the way the Youth Olympic Games has been organized that she has written to the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to voice her disapproval. We publish her letter below (without edits).
The SSC replied to her email informing her that the event is organized by the Singapore Youth Olympic Game Organising Committee (SYOGOC) and that it will bring “your feedback to the attention of the team concerned.”
Here is “Bystander’s” letter to the SSC:
Hi there
Just to let you people know that we are not happy with the YOG cost overruns from $100m to $300m, without any explanations to taxpayers who are paying for this event.
From netizens reporting, Singapore has to build a sports stadium for Jamaica, free of charge, in return for this Central American country to promote this YOG in that part of the world, and complaint from one European YOG ambassador that the venues are of only school type standard, arises whether expenses for YOG are appropriately used with care. Would like to emphasise it is taxpayers money being used, would rather funds are used to subsidize the living expenses of poor, elderly residents living in one-room rental flats, rather than to be used on glamorous, one time short lived glory of events like YOG, which is of lesser importance to the world athletics at large.
Also the two mascots are an embarrasment to us, they are far too kawai or cute, for God’s sake YOG is for young adults, not for children. We do not have to copy cat China in designing mascots, at least show some level of creative originality and sophistication. We see this event organised on half hearted measures on a big wasteful budget, and the most glaring embarrasment is the lack of a National Stadium as a showcase to the world for such an event.
Yog is not even reported yet in the internaional newspapers, to rub salt into our wounds, so to speak. It is a real disappointment to us, even before the start of the Games.
let’s not get distracted by the mascots, design itself can be rather subjective. just focus on the money squandered thus far, & stick to that.
time will tell if this event (& the upcoming F1 Race) gets the mandate of the people. hahaa…
:D
Accounding
to the Wikipedia, YOG is NOT the first Youth Oylmpic. The official first YOG was held in Moscow in 1996 under the name of World Youth Game.
It willl not cost just the current Sin $380 million as last minute cock-ups and treats can happen. For e.g. when the other countries know about the Jamica stadium deal, they will also demand other favours from the deep pocket Singapore govt. scholars who have NO street experience.
Treats like:
NOT coming in the last min as they do not have money for air fair and sports equipments;
or some of their star atheletes need specialize medical treatments;
or all their officials must stay in the 5 stars hotels like the MBS and Hilton instead of the youth hostels in NTU;
or even a committment with bank draft cash by the Singapore govt to built a sadium or olypic size swimming pool
Then Singapore govt (the whole world knows it has deep pockets)need to spent further $125 million to puch the total cost to SIN$500 million. Who in Singapore borders to question the PAP let alone questions them in person.
There is no organized force like in any democratic country or places like Malaysia or Hong Kong.
PAP is ruling SingaPOOR like Brunei and the Saudi Arabia, where the kings meet no opposition. Singaporeans dare not to care about this red dot. Their aims is to live or emigrate.
Just take alook at CNA polls, a overwhelming 2038 voters “simply not interested to watch any YOG games”. I hope the organising committee can finally understand how they screwed themselves up and the YOG games and angered the people of Singapore for all these wasteful spending with no accountability to said the least. I too wanted to support our athletes but looking at the overall picture…I myself decided not to support any.
1st of all..the mascots designs should had started long long ago..designed by creative singapooriums kids…
off course without a doubt…YOG committees must hav ASSUMED pure singapoorium kids/youths do not POSSESED this type of TALENTs…
what happenned to all the mumbo jumbos of how great our youths WAS? ichiban world number 1..can even qualified for world cup 2010 and lived in a swiss standard…
The following is the CNA poll on the YOG. It is the bottom left hand corner.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/index.htm
90% of repondents not interested in YOG. 3% don’t know what YOG is about.
Unlike personal DIY internet polls, there is a full service market research company behind this and other polls conducted by CNA. This market research company is known as Media Research Consultants and is owned by Media Corp. Their offices are in Caldecott Broadcast Centre.
http://directory.esomar.org/Singapor…ts-Pte-Ltd.php
Media Research does a lot of government research projects and is the company behind many of the statistics quoted by heavy weights like Minister Mah, Minister Yacob etc.
YES. The two mascots make this seem like a Children’s Olympics. The whole event seems to me very badly managed and the organisers have failed to get Singaporeans excited and interested in it.
How will it look when the whole world sees the first ever youth Olympics being staged in near-empty “school standard” stadiums?
Already, school kids are being “forced” to go and watch. What next? Round up all the aunties and uncles from the markets and coffee shops?
As a Singaporean, I do not feel the slightest sense of pride that my country is hosting this historic event. Anyway, I do not even feel that Singapore is “my country”, more like the PAP’s and the FT’s country.
i think the YOG’s a bad idea too. and the amount of money spent on something the country generally seems apathetic about makes my heart sink.
but to be fair, don’t mascots in general look kiddy?
Agreed that the Mascots do make the YOG “kiddy”.
However, I thought the organisers did a “fantastic job” distributing free condoms to participants to turn it into an “Adults Only” affair.
Did CNA removed the poll??…cannot seem to find it now
Agreed that the Mascots do make the YOG “kiddy”.
However I thought the organisers
did a “great job” at the very last minute to turn this into an adults’ event by distributing free condoms to officials and participants.
They could at the very least declare the opening day a public holiday, since it’s treated like any normal day who the hell is gonna be bothered.
100,000 tickets sold out of 245,000.
MOE bought 80,000 of those 100,000 sold.
Pathetic.
dun worry, MIW got lots of friends, surely can count on them for support, right? right?…
=D
I am pretty sure if $387 million were to be used for the poor and the elderly, it will create much more international news and positive awareness, than the bloody YOG.
Frankly speaking, i dun give hoots about YOG. I am rather more concerned for my 3 meals than some stupid sports day.
can occupied all the stadiums full..so simple go roun the hawkers centre/voidecks..handout free YOG tees to ahpeks/ahmas..promised them a $2 chicken rice lunch..sured looked pack…
happenned before you know? the last 2 previous erections when yiochukang stadium was empty prograndin the pap party..the oppositions stadium was FULL..
@aurvandil I don’t understand what your point is. It doesn’t matter who runs the online poll or how polished it is, the mechanics are no different from a DIY poll.
A DIY poll whould have achieved exactly the same results. Maybe it would be different if the market research company actually hit the streets to poll people.
But that’s clearly not the case. Your “full service market research company” simply put up a DIY poll on the CNA website.
uniquely singapore. The country wins the right to host an international event and the citizens all hope it turns out to be failure so Singapore can be embarassed on the world stage.
Before complaining and acting altruistic, consider the positive impact to the economy of a successful YOG run in Singapore.
Without understanding why these sort of events are highly sought after by countries and positively affect our economy and our country, and YET still complain – You paint yourself as an ignorant hypocrite.
Granted, things can always be done better. Granted that not all screws are tightened and there’s some water leaking in. But dammit, its a time to be together as a nation and do this for our children.
Grow up.
“these sort of events are highly sought after by countries..”
Wa, really mei? Since when?
“Granted that not all screws are tightened”
Ya, including yours !
“But dammit, its a time to be together as a nation and do this for our children. Grow up.”
LOL-biggest joke! Na, damn U – Suck Up !
Nation? What nation when 40% of the population are foreigners born elsewhere? Singapore needs another few more million citizens to increase it’s population to 6.5 million. With so much wealth we can easily import many more sports talents and win. No need for our children to excel in sports as they are too busy studying to earn a living. They need to be ready to work and be productive til they die as there will be no retirement. There is no place for failures in Singapore, as the Government prefers to spend their money on events like YOG and not help the poor. So you see, it all comes in full circle, right?
You are a bloody hypocrite asking us to get together as a nation and do this for our children. You are daft.
YOG is just another ego booster trip for the govt. But looks like their ego will be badly bruised this time. Hope they end up with fracture instead.
@saiber
CNA is always using this and other polls to sell all sorts of political spin to Singaporeans. If CNA says that this poll is unreliable, then everything which CNA/Media Research puts up is similarly unreliable. You can’t say the survey results are reliable when the results suit you and then turn around and say the results are unreliable when the results are against you.
Like many singaporeans, many are unhappy how tax payer’s money is being used.
Did they ask the people of singapore to vote for this event before they went ahead ?
Visit the many Charities, the old folks home, the orphanages, and see how run down their premises are, they are more in need of funds.
We hear of the absurd over run of budget ,why is The Ministry of Finance so quiet about it? Where has the money gone to?
The Mascots seems like characters from Sesame Street.YOG to me is just like attending school sports. Read from newspaper that it cost 1 million just to chartered a private plane to carry the torch around. We are very rich indeed.
Got ex-stripper & FREE condom…it’ll be a SUCCESS…Oh Yeah Oh Yeah!
it seems to me that Singaporeans are presented with PAP fiascos, one right after another one…
yacoob – great singapore flood
vivian – yog
mah bt – runaway hdb prices
wong cant seng – mas selamat, smrt
raymond – smrt overcrowding
ng chee hen – foreign workers issues
really, what are we paying thru our noses for???
Hey hey hey, Disneyland… Don’t insult Kermit and Cookie Monster and Piggy and friends ok? We got much more CLASS!
We ask who are the other countries who had bid for the hosting of the YOG?
Are those countries more Prudent by not hosting, and its is singapore that has made the wrong judgement and decision to host the YOG. This is substantiated by the ridiculous over-run in budget by the singapore government. Isnt this a proof of bad Governance?
It will be interesting to see the breakdown of the money spent on the YOG…a whopping $380+million.
Actually only after reading this article that I realise that the YOG is not for Children and for young adults. Its like selling Aftershave using cute cartoons and blaming the men for not getting it.
They have to throw in another 200mil so that Temasek-companies like Certis Cisco,SFI,NTUC Bus…etc etc can fill up their coffers to minimised what was lost?
Yes, Richard. I saw some kind of YOG ticket being sold at $1 with free goodies bag, free burger from MD and lucky draw. Very worth right?? Pay $1 and receive maybe $3 to $5 worth of stuffs.
You say.
YOG was hiring security staff for $5/hr. A whopping $5/hr. Jason, I guess this is what you meant by positive side of the YOG?
PAP’s Singapore likes to be first in everything. Even first in a mediocre event is first.
If Singapore is not careful, wearing too many medals of dubious value will weigh down Singapore, causing her to bend and walk with difficulty.
Other lighter countries without ego baggage will over-take Singapore.
This is what happens when 34% votes gets repackaged as a 66% mandate which somehow gives 98% parliament which then translated to 100% policy-making authorization. Small wonder that they thought at least 66% of Singaporeans will be behind the YOG.
BTW, with the entire parliament (including Opp. MPs) getting about/est. $120m per year, the YOG’s $387m budget is only 3-year worth of ministers, or able to run NKF for only about 7.8 years (based on 2009 exp.)
@aurvandil No turnaround here. My point a simple online poll like CNA’s is ALWAYS UNRELIABLE, regardless of who conducts it.
It seems to me you think that if a market research company puts up an online poll, it magically becomes reliable.
Most sports events are a waste of money in that sense.
My south african friend was telling me most south africans see little direct benefits from the World Cup and would rather see the millions spent on their people, rather than one-off stadiums that become white elephants afterwards.
But govts bid for all these events anyway and pay for them becoz it is a one-time massive ad campaign throughout the world. Countries like China touted the last Olympics as the opportunity to showcase itself to the world.
Probably Singapore is trying to do the same- hosting IMF/WB conference, F1 race and now YOG. The only problem- YOG is new so there may not be much overseas spectators and you can’t count on non-sports enthusiastic singaporeans to make up the numbers.
To the govt, YOG is all about form rather than substance. The floating platform is chosen over the Nat Stadium because of the Marina backdrop. All the daily publicity about the opening Show as though the YOG is a competition on games organisation. Small venues are chosen as large empty ones will be embarassing on TV. The round the world Olympic flame event by chartered plane must have cost a bomb ….etc etc etc
On the other hand, little publicity and info are given on the quality of our local participants and their medal winning chances. The reason is obvious. Apart from a few events like sailing and perhaps swimming, the standard of our participants is a mockery to the sporting world – taking a girls school hockey team and call it the national team, converting gymanasts into novice divers and recruiting novice wrestlers and expecting them to compete with established competitors who have been training long term. To prepare its participants in this slip-shot and quick-fix manner is not befitting a hosting country which by tradition is expected to do reasonably well in medals though not necessarily among the top nations. And certainly not when it cost so much money and resources to host.
At the end of the day, Olympics at any level is still first and foremost about classy competition and winning. It is also about a global event and the success must be measured against the reception of fans locally and world-wide which can be measured for example by ticket sales (not counting those bought by MOE and sponsors) and tv ratings, or lack of. Without intention of mocking frivolously, praying for a miracle may be too late for the organisers and it looks like $400m down the drain. Instead of bringing glory for the Singapore sporting community, YOG could end up having the opposite effect
SSC and YOG committee are pockets of the same trousers!!!
This is classic template response!!
I listened to BBC daily for their daily world news, world have your say, outlook, and sports sessions.
Never, never have they utter a single word about YOG. And let me reveal – Commnwealth Games is 2 months away, and BBC already touched on it. London 2012 is a good 24 months away, and BBC already did interviews on the participating athletes of England, Namibia (sorry may be wrong), and some other countries.
WHAT DOES THIS SPEAKS OF??
Wake up the 66.6% sleepers!!
Yesterday I watched a documentary on Discovery Channel about building things bigger, it was focusing on Brazil the next country to host the next summer Olympics.
The government overhauled the entire infrastructure of the country. From the power grid, housing and transportation. At the same time provided thousands of jobs for their people, and gave their local companies a chance to exchange knowledge with international corporations from engineering to architecture. It’s a win win situation. In the end, the people of Brazil benefits with a new power grid that is less exposed to blackouts and a new hydroelectric turbine to power their cities plus new housing, roads and transport.
Though YOG is not at that grand scale, how will that spending benefit the common man on the street? The roads will still flood, traffic will still be slow and we still have yet to see a new stadium. All I can see is a huge set on the floating stage, tell me how will that benefit us, our local athletes and our infrastructure in any way?
walamak,
is our cpf $ to be delay, before can take out and use for retire?
walamak
@ Hunan Race
To add on, we still have to freaking give way to the stupid YOG buses.
looks like taxpayers’ $$ is spirited away to LTA in the form of ERP charges?
:X
Do you folks out there know that there are stores selling YOG souvenirs??
I know of one in Parkway Parade and walked passed the store a few times, and at no time I see any one approaching the store to look at those souvenirs on sale, let alone buy!! That’s how pathetic
the whole YOG show is getting along!!
And you know what?? very soon, the 143rd
rank of the MSM will say something like
“Singaporeans better hurry and grab those
once in a life time souvenirs, they are selling like hot cakes!!”
Remember what they said about those tickets fast running out??
The numbers for the YOG poll seem to have stabilised. A summary of the results are:
Will buy tickets and watch live 3%
Will watch on TV 4%
Not interested 90%
Not aware of what YOG is 3%
These numbers appear quite credible if you superimpose this against the proportion of people who would participate/attend one of those CC/grassroots events.
The proportion usually ranges from between 5% to 10%. Most of the time, you see the same old faces attending multiple events. The vast majority of residents are either not interested or not aware events the grassroots organisations are organising.
You Only Giggle
You Only Goon
You OnlY Gripe
You Only Gone -case
You Only Grill
You Only Gila
You Only ………….
the list goes on ….
Alan Shadrake is reported all over the world but not YOG.
Torino 30 July 2010
Alan Shadrake is reported all over the world but not YOG.
…………………
all the other countries is thinkin how much donations they want to donate
“save a alan shadrake funds”
the israelis is already plannin a search and rescue mission with tom cruise leadin the mission wearin his $1088 shade using youth as YOG participants…
I bet you people would be seeing alot of screwed ups in this YOG. Just sit back, relax and enjoy looking at alot of monkey see monkey do comedian acts.
this YOG shit is pretty messed up. i dont know who’s the organiser… not like i care very much abt who the organiser is… all i know is im recruited to sell tickets for yog. pay is $6 per hour… they called us up for training and venue exercise at the very last minute and rushed! i waited for them 1 whole month to update me and they only called like ytd… it shows that they lack the planning skills, management and watsoever. not worth my time and sacrifice at all.
To put blundering Vivian Balakrishnan in perspective:
It will cost every citizen (man, woman and child based on actual citizens population of 4,5million) $86 just to host some PAP gloryfying childrens’ games.
Yet the Government spends less than 15million dollars on welfare for poor singaporeans.
This is how gross and totally disconnected PAP Goverment is with the realities at ground level.
Vivian Balakrishnan must resign He can do nothing right and say nothing good