The SEA Games
I have been watching the SEA Games highlights the past week and I cringe very badly everytime they interview a Singaporean teen athlete on TV who is not able to speak English (or even Singlish for that matter).
I am full of consternation and embarrassment. Because it seems to be perfectly acceptable for Singapore to win her medals not from the efforts of her own fully born and bred Singaporeans but from "imported" ones.
Aiyoh! So embarrassing! Cringe! Shudder! Turn deep shade of red!
I know there are a number of fellow Singaporeans who go through the same feelings of consternation and embarrassment that I do. There were numerous letters that appeared in the newspapers during the last Olympic games to this effect. But I just do not understand those who write in to champion the "imports". Like Ross says (in "Friends"): Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
I do not understand how one can feel any sense of pride at all in the achievements of those who don’t seem or act or speak like fellow Singaporeans at all. I mean, if he/she was not wearing the jacket with the Singapore flag on it, I really would not have known. You know how you can always tell a fellow Singaporean when you bump into one abroad? Well these are people whom I will not be able to identify as a fellow Singaporean, or "one of us". So how do you feel any pride in their successes? I feel like we have become the laughingstocks of the region.
I think it is perfectly acceptable to import foreign coaches to train our local athletes. But to import foreigners, then grant them citizenships for the purpose of competing in international competitions, it just does not feel right.
I remember the Sea Games in 1993. If my facts are right, we won 50 gold medals that year. 11 was from swimming. Joscelin made her debut that year. I was fifteen.
I remember feeling a fifteen-year-old's gushing pride at her fellow Singaporeans' successes and with Singapore's performance as a whole.
Like I said before, this time around, whatever pride I feel is hidden behind a wall of consternation and embarrassment. Pai Seh!
I am full of consternation and embarrassment. Because it seems to be perfectly acceptable for Singapore to win her medals not from the efforts of her own fully born and bred Singaporeans but from "imported" ones.
Aiyoh! So embarrassing! Cringe! Shudder! Turn deep shade of red!
I know there are a number of fellow Singaporeans who go through the same feelings of consternation and embarrassment that I do. There were numerous letters that appeared in the newspapers during the last Olympic games to this effect. But I just do not understand those who write in to champion the "imports". Like Ross says (in "Friends"): Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
I do not understand how one can feel any sense of pride at all in the achievements of those who don’t seem or act or speak like fellow Singaporeans at all. I mean, if he/she was not wearing the jacket with the Singapore flag on it, I really would not have known. You know how you can always tell a fellow Singaporean when you bump into one abroad? Well these are people whom I will not be able to identify as a fellow Singaporean, or "one of us". So how do you feel any pride in their successes? I feel like we have become the laughingstocks of the region.
I think it is perfectly acceptable to import foreign coaches to train our local athletes. But to import foreigners, then grant them citizenships for the purpose of competing in international competitions, it just does not feel right.
I remember the Sea Games in 1993. If my facts are right, we won 50 gold medals that year. 11 was from swimming. Joscelin made her debut that year. I was fifteen.
I remember feeling a fifteen-year-old's gushing pride at her fellow Singaporeans' successes and with Singapore's performance as a whole.
Like I said before, this time around, whatever pride I feel is hidden behind a wall of consternation and embarrassment. Pai Seh!
posted by PepperMin | 9:08 am
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