A tiny portion could be disgruntled fellow citizens with many an axe to grind against our NSAs or SSC or even the government. Some may even be foreigners most jealous of our success as a tiny, respectful country.
Others have ulterior motives in this unending castigating of Singapore.
Sports and especially the sporting success of a nation is a very important psychological objective for any country, not just Singapore. Sports and sporting success, especially on the big stage, jell, bond and pull an entire people much closer together that can have major impact on other sectors of our economy. This is not theory. Neither what I'm saying here is conjecture.
We are dealing with REALITY here!
To all those who are tired of hearing the same old nonsense from these online detractors... I say just ignore them. Let them vent their unknown frustrations and hot air. Instead of engaging in unfair and senseless criticism, why don't they come out with a concrete blueprint for bringing success to S'pore sports? Perhaps, they could start doing so for their own kids and charges...like what some of our sailing and bowling parents did. Started them young, spent a lifetime with them...with no guarantee of the outcome or success. Some succeeded, many did not. But at least they tried rather than act like these unknown flamers.
I think the majority of Singaporeans are down to earth, practical people. Many of our fathers and forefathers came from ( or imported ) overseas. Quite a number of our former top leaders in government also came from abroad. They had talent and skill and the passion and desire to contribute to Singapore's development and survival. These are strengths we should always welcome....same as the Table Tennis heroines.
Let us therefore as Singaporeans celebrate Triumph over adversity...for big countries like China
can afford to celebrate such occasions every year, in may fields of sporting endeavour.
We simply can't.
So better enjoy and remember it while we can.
9 comments:
There is a BIG difference between immigrants and those who come to Singapore because they are hired as professional sports people. If a China man migartes to Singapore and his off-spring (born in China) discovered he has a talent for sports whilst being educated in Singapore, that's different. That son of an immigrant was not brought to Singapore as a sportsman. So for all intent & purpose, it is China A versus China B.
Does one feel happy if Singapore makes it to the 2010 World Cup but we have 9 Africans on that team - such as Drogba, Michael Essien, Tore, Steve Pennair, etc?
hi old friend, I have to disagree with you. You know me and I do not have an ax to grind. I love Singapore.
Yet, I do not feel a sense of pride at all. China-born, Singapore passport chop player, coached by China born coach in Taiwan, Republic of China for this game.
What did Singapore contribute?
Money and place for them to play. We must face reality. We sincerely cannot claimed that we are world champion.I will never take credit where credit is not due.
Sad day for me. Sad day for Singapore when we have to use money to buy a champion.
We could easily qualify for word come. Use GIC money to buy players from ManU. Liverpool etc.
The ess
The media has over-hyped the victory which makes it a bit revolting. I mean, do we need that to boost our ego? When Yip Pin Xiu won gold at Paralympics and set world records, the cheers were not even half as loud. What gives?
Pride should be felt. Something must be wrong if we have to invoke the red passport and pick IC to justify why we should be proud of our winners.
I welcome both your frank views. Perfectly honest, I must say.
Will await more and other views before I respond.
The day we have to give a Singapore passport, pay top Singapore dollars, ect to get foreigners become our ministers/top civil servants is a sad day for Singapore.
Our Singapore ministers and top civil servants happened to be "foreign imports" only by coincidence. They were Malayans (born in Peninsular Malaya) who came to Singapore to study at Raffles Colleg, got scholarship and stayed on to work. There were also immigrants from where you know who came to Singapore to work as indentured workers and were stateless until our government gave them citizenship.
As What Dr. Lee Wei Ling(my school mate said), resilence is what we should look for. Just because the world has chanegd does not mean our core values have to change.
I use 2 examples, that table-tennis star who married/divorced an Indonesian-born badminton player. Well the China girl was specially imported for sports. That badminton player studied at ACS and happened to be a good player.
One day in a long distance future, an Alien from Mars may be invited a friendly table-tennis match: "Martians VS World Human"!
Sports for friendship...Welcome World (all people all over the world) by UFO.
Suppose the players had applied for citizenship themselves and only later selected to represent our Country, would those who oppose them at first change their mind?
Some who have doubted their loyalty and commitment in the first place might change their mind.
I think there will also be many who still don’t feel proud because the players were not born here. Some might think we are spending too much money on them.
Then there are some who are just not happy with our new foreigner citizens and they will not acknowledge their success whether in studies, work, sports or anything else.
I feel these foreigners must have thought very carefully before deciding to become a citizen of our Country.
For myself I support our players.
At least the gahman has succeeded in creating a distinct Singaporean identity that goes beyond the IC and passport.
I read that during ping pong diplomacy in the 70s?, our people were cheering for the Chinese team instead of our own. That was a match in Singapore, if I'm not wrong. I wonder who were the local players then, LOL
fr, we already have world-class foreign talents who applied for citizenship and became Singaporeans - Gong Li and possibly Jet Li.
But too bad they are not sportsmen and I don't think Oscar or Cannes play Majulah Singapura if they win.
Post a Comment