after seeing yesterday's headlines in the new paper about our foreign table tennis stars bringing the championship to s'pore, only to get slammed by netizens the moment they returned to our sunny island, it gave me a huge incentive to start blogging again.
here's what i've fished out from stomp (i trawled the internet for this!):
What is there for Singaporeans to be proud of when the so-called Singapore women's team, which beat China to clinch the World Table Tennis Championship yesterday, is comprised solely of China-born players, questions STOMPersportscynic.
The Singapore women's team's performance was touted as being 'stunning' and 'historic' by local media after they defeated reigning champions and world No.1 China, 3-1, in the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow yesterday. However, STOMPer sportscynic says the victory is not truly ours. She says: "The Singapore women's team, comprising of Feng Tianwei and her team mates Wang Yuegu, Yu Mengyu, Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei, including their coach Zhou Shusen, are all imported from China.
"They are all China born and bred. There's not a token local born and bred in the team. "It was therefore a case of China's B-team beating China's A-team to be world champions. "Can any Singaporean feel proud of an all Chinese victory? "It's still the Chinese winning in the end anyway."
you can read it on-site here: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/384916/china_beat_china_to_clinch_world_table_tennis_championship.html#commentSection
this was reported in the new paper too, and those who spoke up for the table tennis team argued that many of our foreign athletes had made concerted efforts to assimilate, so why treat them differently? before i talk about that, i have a huge urge to slam this ludicrous statement first:
"can any singaporean feel proud of an all chinese victory? it's still the chinese winning in the end anyway."
it isn't a matter of whether singaporeans can feel proud of a victory that was made possible by a team of foreigners. singaporeans should feel obliged to be proud of it. let's face the truth, it's tough for a local to win anything, much less give our foreign athletes a run for their money. where can we find another ang peng siong? besides, we waited decades to claim our second olympic medal (again, it was a team of foreign athletes who brought it home). this says a lot about homegrown talents, or rather the lack of it.
singaporeans, you have to admit that our culture doesn't allow much space for developing non-academic potential too. it's an unsaid fact that many parents think that anything that does not develop our cognitive abilities should be done recreationally. (a similar statement was mentioned in the 2010 pre-university seminar) when the promising young athlete is swept off his nimble feet in homework, tuition, remedial and school, where can he find time to hone his talent? this is probably why we're facing a severe shortage of homegrown talents but an overload of job hunting university graduates. maybe singapore might see some hope when students from singapore sports school graduate, but that probably won't be soon.
back to the earlier point. i don't think that our foreign athletes' efforts to assimilate matter anyway. so what if tao li masters singlish and feng tianwei belts out majulah singapura with gusto? most of us don't even make an effort to mouth the national anthem lyrics during morning assembly, would anyone actually bother if a foreigner can sing it?
this isn't the end. li jiawei has signed on with the beijing team for the moscow world championships, and another commotion erupts. what's with all those accusations of ingratitude and disloyalty? as quoted from stomp:
"government pay her millions and moral support (sic) and yet she is ungrateful."
"it's time the gov do something. made them sign contract, once they break contract, returned all the money award they received!!!" (sic)
it's ironic that singaporeans refuse to acknowledge the effort our foreign athletes put in to bring glory to singapore, and then accuse them of being ungrateful when they leave for greener pastures. who are the ungrateful ones now? besides, since locals won't appreciate them, why make them stay using contracts?
since the whole issue's about having some talent to call our own, i'll give a fine example of a homegrown star:
2008 summer paralympics bronze medallist, equestrian laurentia tan. she's singaporean through and through, but dig a little deeper through that memory card in your brain. there definitely wasn't so much hype over her win than the commotion over the "all-chinese victory". what do you singaporeans (stompers in particular) really want?
it's high time to stop complaining and start reflecting.
in case you're speculating on my nationality, i'm singaporean.
foreverandalways
QIAN.
an 18 year old living an extraordinarily mundane life.
meridian jc, 08s104, 08s201.
i play the piano and oboe too. =)
after seeing yesterday's headlines in the new paper about our foreign table tennis stars bringing the championship to s'pore, only to get slammed by netizens the moment they returned to our sunny island, it gave me a huge incentive to start blogging again.
here's what i've fished out from stomp (i trawled the internet for this!):
What is there for Singaporeans to be proud of when the so-called Singapore women's team, which beat China to clinch the World Table Tennis Championship yesterday, is comprised solely of China-born players, questions STOMPersportscynic.
The Singapore women's team's performance was touted as being 'stunning' and 'historic' by local media after they defeated reigning champions and world No.1 China, 3-1, in the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow yesterday. However, STOMPer sportscynic says the victory is not truly ours. She says: "The Singapore women's team, comprising of Feng Tianwei and her team mates Wang Yuegu, Yu Mengyu, Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei, including their coach Zhou Shusen, are all imported from China.
"They are all China born and bred. There's not a token local born and bred in the team. "It was therefore a case of China's B-team beating China's A-team to be world champions. "Can any Singaporean feel proud of an all Chinese victory? "It's still the Chinese winning in the end anyway."
you can read it on-site here: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/384916/china_beat_china_to_clinch_world_table_tennis_championship.html#commentSection
this was reported in the new paper too, and those who spoke up for the table tennis team argued that many of our foreign athletes had made concerted efforts to assimilate, so why treat them differently? before i talk about that, i have a huge urge to slam this ludicrous statement first:
"can any singaporean feel proud of an all chinese victory? it's still the chinese winning in the end anyway."
it isn't a matter of whether singaporeans can feel proud of a victory that was made possible by a team of foreigners. singaporeans should feel obliged to be proud of it. let's face the truth, it's tough for a local to win anything, much less give our foreign athletes a run for their money. where can we find another ang peng siong? besides, we waited decades to claim our second olympic medal (again, it was a team of foreign athletes who brought it home). this says a lot about homegrown talents, or rather the lack of it.
singaporeans, you have to admit that our culture doesn't allow much space for developing non-academic potential too. it's an unsaid fact that many parents think that anything that does not develop our cognitive abilities should be done recreationally. (a similar statement was mentioned in the 2010 pre-university seminar) when the promising young athlete is swept off his nimble feet in homework, tuition, remedial and school, where can he find time to hone his talent? this is probably why we're facing a severe shortage of homegrown talents but an overload of job hunting university graduates. maybe singapore might see some hope when students from singapore sports school graduate, but that probably won't be soon.
back to the earlier point. i don't think that our foreign athletes' efforts to assimilate matter anyway. so what if tao li masters singlish and feng tianwei belts out majulah singapura with gusto? most of us don't even make an effort to mouth the national anthem lyrics during morning assembly, would anyone actually bother if a foreigner can sing it?
this isn't the end. li jiawei has signed on with the beijing team for the moscow world championships, and another commotion erupts. what's with all those accusations of ingratitude and disloyalty? as quoted from stomp:
"government pay her millions and moral support (sic) and yet she is ungrateful."
"it's time the gov do something. made them sign contract, once they break contract, returned all the money award they received!!!" (sic)
it's ironic that singaporeans refuse to acknowledge the effort our foreign athletes put in to bring glory to singapore, and then accuse them of being ungrateful when they leave for greener pastures. who are the ungrateful ones now? besides, since locals won't appreciate them, why make them stay using contracts?
since the whole issue's about having some talent to call our own, i'll give a fine example of a homegrown star:
2008 summer paralympics bronze medallist, equestrian laurentia tan. she's singaporean through and through, but dig a little deeper through that memory card in your brain. there definitely wasn't so much hype over her win than the commotion over the "all-chinese victory". what do you singaporeans (stompers in particular) really want?
it's high time to stop complaining and start reflecting.
in case you're speculating on my nationality, i'm singaporean.
