So this young chap from Taiwan is a talent, in pool. And the habit of Singapore sports officials is back on it act again.
Somebody somewhere has proven to be good at something, pool in this case, and we rush in to entice with all sorts of goodies to bring them in as a citizen to don the Singapore colour for international fame. And in the process, had forgotten that there is an innate responsibility to train our very own sons and daughters. Shame on you, Singapore!
No wonder the population at large are so fed up with the people in high office. Look at these shameless thing they are doing. Why deprive our own youngsters the chance to excel, why not commit resources to train our younger generation instead of taking the easy way to world fame? Can we seriously say we are proud should we achieve some awards?
Goh Chok Tong, the ex-Prime Minister justified this cause when he said this in the 1998 NDP Rally,
"Look at the French World Cup football team. In the final against Brazil, I picked Zidane as the most outstanding French player. He is of Algerian descent. Of the 22-players, more than half did not look "French". They looked Argentinian, Armenian, Basque, Caribbean, Ghanaian, New Caledonian. Some were born in France, but of immigrant parents. Others are first generation French citizens. When they went up to receive their medals, President Chirac embraced all of them as Frenchmen. He sent a strong political signal for multi-racialism and against xenophobia: that in France, so long as you contribute to the French cause, it does not matter what colour your skin is or where you were born."
And Mah Bow Tan, then with FAS, supported this view. Also taking the easy way out is Education minister Ng Eng Hen attempted, though he failed, to reduce weightage of mother tongue for the sake of good results for children of rich and elites. Should we not be worried that our ministers are all of this caliber? Many people did not enjoy the victory fully when the female paddlers brought the silver medal home during the Olympic in Beijing 2008. However, when Tao Li and Quah Ting Wen came back with glory for the nation, we were all elated, truly in the Singapore spirit, even though they are not Olympic medals.
The sports fraternity in Singapore should wake up from their dreams of shopping and buying winners. Concentrate on developing our own sons and daughters. And to this Taiwanese pool player, I say "To hell with you, stay in Taiwan. Do not come here, Singaporeans at large do not welcome you!"
That said, all is not gone. We take consolation with Subhas Anandan, President of Cuesports Singapore where he advocates that we should focus on local born players instead. 'We would rather concentrate on raising the standards of our local-born players. Pool is a game where we can be as good as powerhouses like Taiwan and the Philippines.'
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