I know this entry is going to be a flame bait. But these are my personal point of view.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel a bit disgrace when our national flag is being carried by a foreign talent during the Olympic opening ceremony. OK, I know she is a Singapore citizen now. But face it, we bought her over. We pay her money to migrate to Singapore so that she can win an Olympic medal for us. If we didn’t pay her good money, I doubt she would even consider coming.
I personally have very low opinions about these sport foreign talents. NOTE: I’m referring to those “talents” that Singapore pay high price to poach them over. I’m not talking about foreign talents who choose to come to Singapore on their own. I have nothing against those who came because they think Singapore is a good place to be. In fact, I respect those who came to Singapore on their own without any monetary rewards from our government. I admire their courage. But I’m disgusted by those who convert to Singapore citizen because our country pay them money. Good money which can be put into better use.
Why are we buying talents to bring an Olympic medal back? Why do we want an Olympic medal? What is so great about Olympic medals? Who cares if we win the Olympic medal?
Can it bring inflation down? Can it feed the poor? Can it bring us cheaper oil price? Can it solve traffic congestion? The answer is no.
So why are we paying so much to bring in foreign talents to help us win medals? Olympic is about sportsmanship and representation. I’m sure the foreign talents have sportsmanship. But are they a true representation of Singapore? No. They still speak with their native slang. They are not true representation of what a real Singaporean look like. Imagine sportsmen from other country seeing our table tennis player and think that Singaporeans speak like Chinese from China. Where is our National image and identity?
I don’t mind if these foreign talents can help improve the standards of our local sportsman. But are they doing that? All I see is that they are taking up our local sportsman’s opportunity to attend big events like Olympics to gain international competition exposure. How can the locals improve when we only send the foreign talents to the major competitions?
And the news coverage is always on the foreign talents. Yes, our locals aren’t as good as them. But they are Singaporeans. They are representing Singapore. They may not be able to raise our national flag in the games, but at least they fly our flag in their heart. Isn’t that more important? They need our support too. But how do we support them when the attention is always on the foreign talents? How do they improve when we don’t give them a chance?
They were saying that we have a high chance of winning a medal this Olympics. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad if that happen. I keep asking…. if Singapore Table Tennis team wins the gold medal, should we sing “Majulah Singapura” or “义勇军进行曲” during the flag raising. Would anyone in the stadium know how to sing “Majulah Singapura”?
It is sad to see Singapore sporting scene in such sorry state. But we can still do something about it. Stop bring in foreign talents for the sake of winning medals. If they want to migrate to Singapore because they think Singapore is a better place, we should welcome them. But we shouldn’t be paying high price to bring them in. Those money can be put into better use like buying better equipments. Give our local sportsman a chance. Give them more news coverage and support. Give them more opportunities to compete in major sporting events. They might not be able to win any medals for us. But it’s ok. We don’t need to win any medals. We just need to be represented in major sporting events.
So on the Nation’s 43th birthday, I have one small wish from the country that I call home for the past 28 years…… Give Singaporeans a chance.
Happy Birthday Singapore.
on Aug 9th, 2008 at 5:33 PM
I agree with you totally.
When I was watching it and if u were to notice the way the flag was carried out. It was practically sweeping the floor!
And to think that Li Jiawei, a Chinese National from birth, is now going back to motherland to try to win for another country….
I cannot comprehend.
And yes, to all nation builders, thank you!
Lilians last blog post..Happy Birthday, Singapore!
on Aug 9th, 2008 at 7:34 PM
Well written, DK! I too, feel that way; there’re so many born and bred Singaporean sportsmen aspiring to represent in international competitions… Why give that space to a paid defector from another country just because of the pursuit of medals? I’d say that it’s a slap in the face to the schemes that are trying to encourage local sportsmen.
pkchukisss last blog post..2 down, 4 more to go
on Aug 9th, 2008 at 10:33 PM
if we think from the sportsman’s point of view, if she had stayed in China, she also may not have the chance to be in the first team. So… it could be a case of she also wanting to play in the olympic.
chillycrapss last blog post..national day and birthday
on Aug 9th, 2008 at 11:22 PM
[...] to the controversy was the fact that the flagbearer was not born and raised in Singapore. DK is disappointed: “I feel a bit disgrace when our national flag is being carried by a foreign talent during the [...]
on Aug 10th, 2008 at 2:59 AM
[...] the whole world? If she put in extra care when holding the flag, this wouldn’t had happened. I already find it disgraceful when our national flag is being carried by a foreign talent during the opening ceremony. She have [...]
on Aug 10th, 2008 at 8:10 PM
thanks for the great post!
I agree with you 100%
I didn’t really notice the flag dragging when I watched the video for the first time so nvm.
What disspointed me was that, WHY, of all people, must they let Li Jia Wei be the flag bearer.
Someone who came to singapore in her teens because of monetary reasons. Wah. she is going to be so very patrotic!
As if!
hahahahaha
In my humble opinion, I would rather the government to actually spend the $$ that has been used to buy atheletes from tsk tsk tsk. *you know where* to nurture our local sports talents who are truly born and bred in singapore.
afterall, haven’t we imported enough things into singapore?
It’s time to produce locally!
on Aug 11th, 2008 at 2:56 PM
I am an ASEAN-Filipino and as an ASEAN I totally agree with you all that you have said.
The Nation/National Flag! Disgusting. No offense. A Flag touching the ground even for a millisecond is show that the People are nobody. It isn’t the Philippine Flag but being a proud ASEAN I feel the same emotions as I feel when I see our own Flag disgraced like that (I’ve seen our Flag fell from a flagpole once and nobody cared until I asked the Taxi/Cab to stop so I can pick it up and call the authorities).
JC John SESE Cunetas last blog post..Win U$20,000 and Be Part of History
on Aug 17th, 2008 at 4:50 PM
The thing is we are so obsessed with winning that we think the FT scheme is fantastic. You have those who think “its glory in the highest that we have a silver medal assured now!! ” You have those who think “think of the big picture.. these players will inspire locals to take part in sports”
I see it as the other way round. The medals will see more locals thinking “hiya just send FTs lor….. Son don’t waste your time on sports…. let the FTs do it” It will see our govt thinking “ehhhh which other sport should we start scouting and sending entire FT teams? We must repeat the medal success… How about we get Nigerians for Track and Field, more PRC for other events..”
Sigh sorry state of sports in Singapore….
on Aug 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM
[...] not slamming the foreign talents in Singapore. You might want to read my National Day blog entry first to know my stand on foreign talents in Singapore. I’m not against foreign talents who come to Singapore on their own without any incentive [...]
on Aug 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 AM
I think money should be spent in bringing in experienced FTs to train our local sportsmen. That’s as far as it should go. Not get FTs to represent the country in the games. And the first thing that I realised when I was watching the Opening ceremony was that the flag was almost dragging on the floor. Even if we did win a gold medal, it would be quite embarassing for people watching the game to realise that the Singapore players are not singing their supposed national anthem, ‘Majulah Singapore’.