PRC Sports Talent? Gain OR Bane to the Ctry?
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Brief Gist: Famous Elite Swimmer CHINA-born Tao Li refuses to allow Singapore Swimming Association(SSA) to tax her prize winnings for youth development in the swimming sports.
Interesting Point to note: All SINGAPORE born elite sports men and women have no qualms in allowing their winnings to be taxed by their respective sports association for their own youth development.
The contentious issue lies in the fact that ultimately Tao Li is a PRC. No doubt, she may be a SG citizen now, her allegience lies in CHINA, and her career here is simply put:TO EARN as much $ as possible.
Morale of the Story: These Fx sports talent may not be as good as they claim they are. Just look at Ronald Susilo or Li jiawei for that matter. They haven't been performing well in recent games. At the end of the day, would it have been better if the money and attention have been spent on grooming our local sports talent?
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Her arguments are actually not without merit. Besides its not a question about money but where the money goes to.
Edit: Would like to add that she is reluctant to let her money fall in the hands of SSA for youth development and not that she refused to. She would rather the money go to the sports school/more elite swimmers etc.
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... well, FTs won't be as easy to herd around like sheeps...
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Many people think our sports talents owe the country a favour. What most people forget is the short lifespan our athletes have and the pittance they earn on an annual scale in the long run, as compared to our average CBD executive.
Winnings are a form of incentive to excel. If the carrot on offer is reward for winning, then it should be given with no strings attached.
'Taxing' is becoming the norm and i'm shocked that people accept this notion. It's like someone who worked hard, achieved his year end target, received the company bonus, then suddenly he's asked to fork out a portion of it to the company for next year's budget....how would you feel?
Surely there are other avenues to reward the coaches? Surely our super-rich govt and the SSA can obtain funding for youth development? If not how was it done initially?
We seem to forget that athletes get a pitiful allowance for training and other needs. If compared to other asian countries like Korea for example, an olympic gold is worth one million USD, a house, a car and other allowances. Is our govt prepared to consider such incentives in our pursuit for sporting success? if not, why give the excuse that a portion of our youth's development costs have to be 'taxed' from the winnings promised to our athletes? Don't they have sufficient avenues to explore for their budget?
If our govt expects such ridiculous requirements, perhaps our athletes should reconsider whether they want to represent our money-faced nation.
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Originally posted by BillyBong:
Many people think our sports talents owe the country a favour. What most people forget is the short lifespan our athletes have and the pittance they earn on an annual scale in the long run, as compared to our average CBD executive.
Winnings are a form of incentive to excel. If the carrot on offer is reward for winning, then it should be given with no strings attached.
'Taxing' is becoming the norm and i'm shocked that people accept this notion. It's like someone who worked hard, achieved his year end target, received the company bonus, then suddenly he's asked to fork out a portion of it to the company for next year's budget....how would you feel?
Surely there are other avenues to reward the coaches? Surely our super-rich govt and the SSA can obtain funding for youth development? If not how was it done initially?
We seem to forget that athletes get a pitiful allowance for training and other needs. If compared to other asian countries like Korea for example, an olympic gold is worth one million USD, a house, a car and other allowances. Is our govt prepared to consider such incentives in our pursuit for sporting success? if not, why give the excuse that a portion of our youth's development costs have to be 'taxed' from the winnings promised to our athletes? Don't they have sufficient avenues to explore for their budget?
If our govt expects such ridiculous requirements, perhaps our athletes should reconsider whether they want to represent our money-faced nation.
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anything our govt touch turns to dust
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Hmm, the issue of taxing and whether it is ethical is indeed a whole different dimension to consider. Some athletics feel that it is ok that part of their winnings go towards rewarding their coaches. Afterall, this creates a winning partnership, where the coach knows training an atheltic well infers he/she will also be rewarded financially.
This thread seeks to focus on Tao Li's allegience to Singapore. I mean, perhaps her heartache stem from the fact that the $ to be given for youth development will only benefit the Singapore born talents. I mean if Tao Li were to be in CHINA, i am sure she will without hesistation agree to the taxing of her winnings to benefit her own PRC species.
This Beholds a fundamental dilemma. Why the hell did we give her citizenship for? And all that perks and training opportunites at the sports school, her super expensive Aussie Coach. Making her a freaking PR would do.
If she is so god damn good at swimming, why the hell is she developing here in SG?
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Originally posted by New Creation:
If she is so god damn good at swimming, why the hell is she developing here in SG?
i tink if she is to be compared to her peers back in China... she is juz an average swimmer even thou she out performed many of our local swimmers... juz like Lee Jiawei and her fellow PRC-ers...
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Originally posted by New Creation:
Hmm, the issue of taxing and whether it is ethical is indeed a whole different dimension to consider. Some athletics feel that it is ok that part of their winnings go towards rewarding their coaches. Afterall, this creates a winning partnership, where the coach knows training an atheltic well infers he/she will also be rewarded financially.
This thread seeks to focus on Tao Li's allegience to Singapore. I mean, perhaps her heartache stem from the fact that the $ to be given for youth development will only benefit the Singapore born talents. I mean if Tao Li were to be in CHINA, i am sure she will without hesistation agree to the taxing of her winnings to benefit her own PRC species.
This Beholds a fundamental dilemma. Why the hell did we give her citizenship for? And all that perks and training opportunites at the sports school, her super expensive Aussie Coach. Making her a freaking PR would do.
If she is so god damn good at swimming, why the hell is she developing here in SG?
I disagree.
Instead of focusing on the issue of taxation of winining athletes, the editor chose to zoom in on a single athlete's gribe over the need to give up her winnings based on her personal hard work and achievements. This distraction, wayang kulit from addressing the real issue and blowing a molehill into a mountain.
So the talk of the town is now aimed at questioning Tao Li's personal integrity and 'loyalty' to Singapore, when the real question really should be why the SSA only recently decided to add themselves to this taxation club. The SBA isn't imposing such a requirement on their players, which can only imply that there are certainly other avenues to explore to get funding.
In addition, Swimming is considered a class A sport; if badminton can go about their business without the need to strongarm their talents, why does the SSA feel this need?
Is there some insecurity within the SSA or some backroom politics at play here? Perhaps the SSC should step in to review the reasons behind such an act.
Personally, if the various sports bodies wanted to incalculate a sense of nobility among their athletes, they should also be aware that nobility cannot be forced. It has to be given.
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I don't think taking money out of athelete's winnings is the way forward. It will encourage atheletes to leave Singapore once they establish themselves as winners.
The SSA could be given bonuses by the Government based on how well their atheletes do rather then reward themselves arbitrarily from the athelete's winnings.
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Why didn’t SSA factor in the 6% tax into the prize money and then announce that the prize money would be $23,500(instead of $25,000 for example)?
There won’t be any quarrel over money.
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I think to be fair, the athelete should be allowed to keep their winnings.
You dont know what happens to the money if it is taken from them.
I had friends who are national atheletes and they told of how by the time the money gets to them, it is peanuts. More like a tip.
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foreigners arent accustomed to the local sg culture where the higher authority can place their decisions on anyone and they accept it without much questioning or resistance.
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<--- from ST Forum:
Don't begrudge our sportsmen their monetary awards
I AM shocked that Singapore Sailing president Low Teo Ping saw it fit to call Tao Li a greedy grabbing athlete, 'Tao Li taken to task over comments' (ST, Jan 29).
Greedy? For wanting to keep $1,425 of her earnings?
Instead of explaining his disagreement with Tao Li's comments and stand, Mr Low resorted to a mean personal attack that is ungentlemanly. His words to Tao Li reflect a lack of grace towards a 17-year-old who has done Singapore proud.
Athletes in Singapore make immense sacrifices and, apart from the occasional rewards for winning medals, most will retire from sports with little financial security for their time, effort and sacrifices. Yes, the Government sponsors and volunteers (such as Mr Low) contribute to the development of these athletes but these are not purely altruistic acts. Success of Singapore athletes at international competitions brings prestige to the country and recognition to paid sports officers (higher bonuses, perhaps?) as well as volunteers (like Mr Low).
It is ironic that we live in a society which rightly accepts high salaries for civil servants and ministers but which would begrudge our sporting heroes a few thousand dollars.
Mr Low owes Ms Tao Li an apology.
Ho Jia Ying (Ms)
--->
I wasn't aware that some sports president had resorted to name-calling....comments of the gutter. Now let's see if there some real graciousness among our so-called sports leaders.
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singapore is soo fucked for engaging FT in sports i`ll say SG should be banned from such event, it`s as good as hiring ppl outside to represent the nation, putting other ppl`s backside skin and put on the face.. imagine one day SG score all the golds for SEA games and all are won by SG`s foreign talent.. fuck i`ll be ashamed of myself
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i wont blame her, afterall it`s her money i was also `interviewed` by my CSM and OC when in NS asking why i don wanna donate to Com Chest, and threatened me w extra.. but i also don give a fuck, end up also nv give me, if the SSS had wanted her to donate the money in the 1st place, then why promised her that she can keep the prize?? to her it`s just a job, nothing more u think she`ll be proud to be singaporean mehz?? dream on la u guyz
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Haiz, now these new citizens will find out that there is no free lunch in Singapore. They must be kicking themselves now for taking up the offer of citizenship.
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don't like here... go back lo...
nobody welcomes them here...
go and fuck spider la
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During the SEA Games 2007, there were mixed feeling within me.
When the Pingpong team won all the gold medals, I felt rather pleased and proud. But when I saw all the team members are from China, all these feelings were gone.
Wth? I certainly wont consider these athletes as Singaporeans despite the fact they wore our national jerseys during the SEA Games. Look at other nations like Malaysia and Thailand. Even though they din win any pingpong gold medals, their citizens can still feel proud because these athletes are local born, local breed and locally trained. Truely Malaysian/Thai athletes.
The same goes for other sports such as soccer and badminton. Look at the soccer national team. We have Chinaman, Nigerians, British, Serb... and the list goes on.
I definitely wont feel proud for success that are being bought.
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Originally posted by Spartans:
During the SEA Games 2007, there were mixed feeling within me.
When the Pingpong team won all the gold medals, I felt rather pleased and proud. But when I saw all the team members are from China, all these feelings were gone.
Wth? I certainly wont consider these athletes as Singaporeans despite the fact they wore our national jerseys during the SEA Games. Look at other nations like Malaysia and Thailand. Even though they din win any pingpong gold medals, their citizens can still feel proud because these athletes are local born, local breed and locally trained. Truely Malaysian/Thai athletes.
The same goes for other sports such as soccer and badminton. Look at the soccer national team. We have Chinaman, Nigerians, British, Serb... and the list goes on.
I definitely wont feel proud for success that are being bought.
I view the import of these sports FT as MNCs being attracted into SG. You see, EDB was like giving perks and tax exemptions to professionally beg these MNCs to come to SG. No doubt they create jobs, BUT, there will always be negligible transfer of tacit skills and technology to SG. When there is some turbulence in SG, these MNCs will just relocate with a blink of an eye.
I feel that in the Sports Arena, we too became professional beggars in attracting these sports FT to SG with promise of citizenship, attractive prize money, education and housing perks. However, their allegience lies in their own homeland. Once they earn enough money, they return to their homeland. And talk about the grooming and transfer of skills and knowledge to SG players: this is actually quite minimial.
I believe SG should stop all these 'impossible-to-excel" sports like Soccer, Badminton, Atheltics and focus on our core strengths in Swimming, Gymnasium, Shooting, Bowling, water polo and Sailing. These are the sports that we have seen Good SG talents performing. That should be the way to go.