Importance of our Youth and social spending on them
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Academic excellence are evidence of one's mental strength and the perseverance as well as the desire to gain knowledge, to understand how things work and the world around us.
While knowledge will never cease, one is often given a certificate as a reward for his hard mental work once he shows aptitude for a specialist subject, which will be good enough to secure a job in the economy, based on his specialisation and be paid according to market rates of supply and demand.
Sporting excellence are evidences of not only one's physical strength, it is also evidence of his mental strength to overcome the limits believed by everyone as facts of human or national limitations.
While sporting activities are generally believed to make one fit, it carries much more values that are gained from engaging in it, such as sportsmanship behaviour, responsibility and pride in achievement, etc. It is a youthful exhuberance with many life's experience gained and should be celebrated, for we adults were young once too.
It is not enough that our nation should be satisfied with academic excellence, for alone without sports, the human body will be subject to health and even mental issues later in life.
Thus the need to give equal balance to social funding and national support into our youth through the elevation of sports to greater glory such as the olympics, where our young may know there are no physical or mental limits with regards to the human body, if we tried hard enough.
Although some of the winners are imports, there is no need to be ashamed of ourselves, for they are only temporary measures to give hope to our own youthful citizens that they too, being human and equal, can equally excel, if not better than them in time.
We as a nation aspires towards overall excellence, and sporting glory is one aspiration that will bind us and unite us all as one, sharing with our national sportsmen the agony of defeat, or the truimph of victory, for it was our support, encouragement, and funds that help these winners. ( even if they had lost, for to participate alone is already a win, a glory some nations cannot even achieve to meet the time trials).
So do stand tall, be proud. We singaporeans, every citizen, had come a long way and have much to smile. Come what may, we use our brains and brawns to survive and never say die.
Congrats to our Singapore Olympic team and officials that made a difference in the Beijing 2008 Olympics!
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Addeum:-
The china imports of coaches and medallists may have won, and can keep their gains, honour and respect, etc.
But more critically, if you analyse the situation, it shows our Spore system works!
The coaches and medallists were not top seeds in their country, but were brought to our country and trained, with our funds, support and encouragement. In time, they won.
It would mean our Spore system can train anyone, be him/her from China or Ethopia! Better yet - our own valuable citizens too!
So be proud, the imports may have won medals, BUT IT IS SINGAPORE THAT WON, a system that works!
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Nice try... I wonder who paid u to say that... But what would really make me proud of my country is when Singapore sends what little(of ITS OWN) olympic talent it has, ends up winning less as a result, and still feel OK with the achievements. The obvious desperation seen in sending non singaporeans to represent singapore only serves to show how much SG is only concerned with the winning and the IMAGE. And that to SG image counts for everything and reality nothing. In fact by sending non-singaporeans to the olympics the govt is in effect telling everyone - 'Our people are not enough to win medals we can be proud of so we need to send FT'
I'll feel real proud of my country when even if we bring back no medals everyone still says 'its ok you've tried your best'.The sad fact now is that everyone seems blinded (brainwashed?) by the Govt and don't see achievement as an end in itself. the achievements of our olympic atheletes are merely a means to the ends of the PAP's agenda. So... sorry i feel no pride
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But more critically, if you analyse the situation, it shows our Spore system works!
Does that mean we can get rid of Lee Kuan Yew and PAP now and tell PRC appoint a mayor to run their colony?
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Originally posted by ulquiorra87: Nice try... I wonder who paid u to say that... But what would really make me proud of my country is when Singapore sends what little(of ITS OWN) olympic talent it has, ends up winning less as a result, and still feel OK with the achievements.
The obvious desperation seen in sending non singaporeans to represent singapore only serves to show how much SG is only concerned with the winning and the IMAGE. And that to SG image counts for everything and reality nothing. In fact by sending non-singaporeans to the olympics the govt is in effect telling everyone - 'Our people are not enough to win medals we can be proud of so we need to send FT'
I'll feel real proud of my country when even if we bring back no medals everyone still says 'its ok you've tried your best'.The sad fact now is that everyone seems blinded (brainwashed?) by the Govt and don't see achievement as an end in itself. the achievements of our olympic atheletes are merely a means to the ends of the PAP's agenda. So... sorry i feel no pride
It is perfectly ok and normal for you to feel that way. I am sure there will be the stubborn few who will not acknowledge the benefits our State ( our society ) had to compromise for the betterment of our future generations.
Our mind is the ultimate battlefied in order to succeed and excel. For years, from our colonnial mindsets, we believed that only the white men are capable of mental and physical strengths. We created self imposed limits upon ourselves. But throught the years, as we watched other asians taking on the better organised white men, we realized perhaps we too can win.
For 48 long years, we singaporeans had this self imposed limitation that we could never win, even if we had the best trainers, support, encouragement, funds, and focus on mental developement instead.
This olympic shatters such limitations and delusions. We Singaporeans too, can excel. The China imports are not superbeings, they are human, they bleed red blood just like us, come from similar or even worse background and environment.
It only needs trust in our Spore sports programmes, and parents willing to allow their child, if they are keen and have the aptitude, to be placed on such programmes.
In time, and not for long, i am most confident you too will be able to share in our national pride, which you, with every right to be proud of your own country even now, deny yourself to.
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i only agree with the title of the topic.
as for the rest...i reserve my comments.
sorry to borrow examples from our neighbour:
source from the star:
MALAYSIAN archer Cheng Chu Sian experienced the high and low of victory and defeat on the same day yesterday.
In the morning, Chu Sian raised hopes of Malaysia’s first medal of the Games when he scored an upset sudden-death win over South Korea’s Lee Chang-hwan, the Olympic record holder, in the last 16.
http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2008/8/16/olympics/22101109&sec=Olympics
of cos, we know lee chong wei will battle for gold against lin dan/prc.
both chu sian and chong wei are penangite, born and raised there. even tho' chu sian lost to the russia archer in the quarters, i am sure malaysian's are immensely proud of what he has done for malaysia.
in sports, there is only 1 first/gold in a field of so many. hence, winning is not the only way to feel pride to the nation. doing well, setting pb or national records are other ways to feel proud too. when you fought gallantly and lost, no one will fault you.
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British dog is british dog.
Said Zahari was right after all.
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Originally posted by xtreyier:
It is perfectly ok and normal for you to feel that way. I am sure there will be the stubborn few who will not acknowledge the benefits our State ( our society ) had to compromise for the betterment of our future generations.
Our mind is the ultimate battlefied in order to succeed and excel. For years, from our colonnial mindsets, we believed that only the white men are capable of mental and physical strengths. We created self imposed limits upon ourselves. But throught the years, as we watched other asians taking on the better organised white men, we realized perhaps we too can win.
For 48 long years, we singaporeans had this self imposed limitation that we could never win, even if we had the best trainers, support, encouragement, funds, and focus on mental developement instead.
This olympic shatters such limitations and delusions. We Singaporeans too, can excel. The China imports are not superbeings, they are human, they bleed red blood just like us, come from similar or even worse background and environment.
It only needs trust in our Spore sports programmes, and parents willing to allow their child, if they are keen and have the aptitude, to be placed on such programmes.
In time, and not for long, i am most confident you too will be able to share in our national pride, which you, with every right to be proud of your own country even now, deny yourself to.
Man your statements are really to generalized and i think speak more of yourself than of anything else. Nobody is doubting the ability of singaporeans, neither is anyone saying china imports are invincible. What i'm saying is that even our own government lacks faith in our ability to make them proud. And, as if not insulting enough they would rather be proud of achievements that are essentially not from singapore. AND, as if not degrading enough already the government will probably use these achievements for their political agendas. I'm trying to say singapore stands for nothing but the PAP which makes me sick.
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xtreyier, I do not agree with your views.
I feel more pride if our oylmpics team is made up of Singaporeans.
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Originally posted by ulquiorra87:
Man your statements are really to generalized and i think speak more of yourself than of anything else. Nobody is doubting the ability of singaporeans, neither is anyone saying china imports are invincible. What i'm saying is that even our own government lacks faith in our ability to make them proud. And, as if not insulting enough they would rather be proud of achievements that are essentially not from singapore. AND, as if not degrading enough already the government will probably use these achievements for their political agendas. I'm trying to say singapore stands for nothing but the PAP which makes me sick.
I am sadden by your narrow views. Sports is the celebration on the exhuberance of youth and politics have no part in it. It is a national joy and pride we take on the combined united efforts of citizens and singapore representing sportsman, regardless of race, religion, language, social status or political affliation.I know that i will never be able to convince you otherwise, but hope that one day you may resume your health and look at sports objectively, even take part in it to understand sportsmanship behaviour, instead of taking the narrow slippery Hitlerite path of 'political sports'.
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It is a national joy and pride we take on the combined united efforts of citizens and singapore representing sportsman, regardless of race, religion, language, social status or political affliation.
If so, why PRC imports?
Why not just Singaporeans?
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Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:
If so, why PRC imports?
Why not just Singaporeans?
Because we are crap..It all started with Goal 2010..basically the idea was to tell us that we are crap..then came in the foreigners...not only in sports but all areas...they used sport to tell us we are crap
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I stated previously before but strangely the thread is hijacked and locked to sports forum. One need to realise there is a political side to tis game as well and another thread should be open in speaker's corner
Lets put it tis way. I agree tat the best situation is borned singaporean winning a medal. If tat is not possible, I settle for singaporean winning the medal. Tis is the situation we r seeing now. If they r not here, we will be complaining about tis the gov for not producing sports stars now. If they r not here, I and probably a lot of people will not be watching the game yesterday and cheer, excited and rejoice about it. It will be another lazy ordinary afternoon where singaporean ends up with nothing again.
Though they r not borned in singapore, they have chosen to be here, lived many years, do all their training here, renounced their china citizenship and represent us. If u look at other countries, they r also a lot of people who r not born in their countries too like US, Korea (one of the team member is china born) and Netherland. Take note tat even Tan Howe Liang is a china born singaporean and so is your grandfather and grandmother. How do u classify a singaporean ? Singapore is a migrant country like USA. Most of the people there r not native. If u think the table tennis players r not singaporean, then your grandmother and grandfather r not singaporean too
Some people advocate singaporean can play better than the PRC. Realistically speaking, not yet. Singaporean do not have to aim for table tennis, they can aim other sports. Wat sports star have singaporean churned out ? I believe the time is not here yet. We need 10 years to nurture a real sports champion and maybe in future olympics more of such sportsmen will turn out. Now we just need to embrace the ones we have and be proud of the moment.
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I can fully understand the desire for a born and bred national olympic team representing our country, of which we are proud of having proven many wrong who had written us off as wont being able to survive after being kicked out of the federation in '65.
Let us all not be impatient. With this olympic result, i, as a citizen, have the fullest confidence that the ideal national team will be ready by the next few olympics to come, if not the next one, as the national limitation mindset had been broken, achievement capable.
What is needed is more support, not just from parents who would put their capable kids on the sporting pedestal, but from each and every citizen. It is not enough to dream. We have to put action and effort to realize that dream, which is achievable. You support, active interest and funding is required.
Capable in both mental and physical strengths and every citizen youth are our future, to further the success and progress our previous generation had bestowed upon us as a nation.
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Originally posted by xtreyier:
I can fully understand the desire for a born and bred national olympic team representing our country, of which we are proud of having proven many wrong who had written us off as wont being able to survive after being kicked out of the federation in '65.
Let us all not be impatient. With this olympic result, i, as a citizen, have the fullest confidence that the ideal national team will be ready by the next few olympics to come, if not the next one, as the national limitation mindset had been broken, achievement capable.
What is needed is more support, not just from parents who would put their capable kids on the sporting pedestal, but from each and every citizen. It is not enough to dream. We have to put action and effort to realize that dream, which is achievable. You support, active interest and funding is required.
Capable in both mental and physical strengths and every citizen youth are our future, to further the success and progress our previous generation had bestowed upon us as a nation.
the ideal national team will be ready by the next few olympics to come
How many would it take?
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Originally posted by crimsontactics:
the ideal national team will be ready by the next few olympics to come
How many would it take?
goal 2022?
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Originally posted by stupidissmart:
Though they r not borned in singapore, they have chosen to be here, lived many years, do all their training here, renounced their china citizenship and represent us. If u look at other countries, they r also a lot of people who r not born in their countries too like US, Korea (one of the team member is china born) and Netherland. Take note tat even Tan Howe Liang is a china born singaporean and so is your grandfather and grandmother. How do u classify a singaporean ? Singapore is a migrant country like USA. Most of the people there r not native. If u think the table tennis players r not singaporean, then your grandmother and grandfather r not singaporean too
Tan Howe Liang is a Singaporean that played sports. The PRC imports played sports to be Singaporean. Thats the difference between Tan How Liang and the PRCs.
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If tat is the only difference, I have little problems with it
Both r singaporean and both play sports -
Originally posted by stupidissmart:
If tat is the only difference, I have little problems with it
Both r singaporean and both play
sportsthere is also another difference.
Few Singaporeans feel proud about one of them winning a medal. If it was other countries, everyone would be full of pride of their sportsman. -
Then i guess the problem may rise on us complaining and unhappy over many things
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What's there to stop the Govt from importing a hundred more foreign sports talents within a year,suit them up with a pink IC and sending them in to participate in every single olympic event?
Imagine we sent a team of french singaporeans for fencing,a team of nigerians for track meets,a team of foreign players(albeit with a pink IC) for each other competable sport.Do we still consider that as NATIONAL PRIDE even if we do win in the end?
Yes,there are many other better foreign atheletes than what Singapore will be able to field from her OWN LOCAL STABLE but isn't it ironic that our own govt is saying that "As long as we tried our best,that is all that matters".Why not send our own locally born and bred talent then instead of wooing over foreign players?Are we that scared of losing from the efforts of our OWN AUTHENTIC COUNTRYMEN/WOMEN?
It may be a trend that other countries are picking up but is it a trend that Singapore should be following?
I doubt I will ever see the day that China sends caucasian players out on any of its olympic sports teams.Michael Phelps with a PRC citizenship....hmm.
We should at least have sent out a "LOCAL" team that is comparable in size to our "French Foreign Legion".That way,it will be more suited to Singapore's image of a "melting pot divesity".
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Originally posted by baikachuchu:
What's there to stop the Govt from importing a hundred more foreign sports talents within a year,suit them up with a pink IC and sending them in to participate in every single olympic event?
Imagine we sent a team of french singaporeans for fencing,a team of nigerians for track meets,a team of foreign players(albeit with a pink IC) for each other competable sport.Do we still consider that as NATIONAL PRIDE even if we do win in the end?
Yes,there are many other better foreign atheletes than what Singapore will be able to field from her OWN LOCAL STABLE but isn't it ironic that our own govt is saying that "As long as we tried our best,that is all that matters".Why not send our own locally born and bred talent then instead of wooing over foreign players?Are we that scared of losing from the efforts of our OWN AUTHENTIC COUNTRYMEN/WOMEN?
It may be a trend that other countries are picking up but is it a trend that Singapore should be following?
I doubt I will ever see the day that China sends caucasian players out on any of its olympic sports teams.Michael Phelps with a PRC citizenship....hmm.
We should at least have sent out a "LOCAL" team that is comparable in size to our "French Foreign Legion".That way,it will be more suited to Singapore's image of a "melting pot divesity".
Havent you read the Standard Propaganda Literature dished out by State Media and Counter insurgency agents? The football teams now have foreigners representing their team. After reading these logical propaganda arguments,our tears would roll, we would be transformed and become proud of any imports that is representing Singapore.
When in doubt, reread the Standard Propaganda Literature. Reading it a few more times helps your mind think in the right way.
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Originally posted by kilua:
Havent you read the Standard Propaganda Literature dished out by State Media and Counter insurgency agents? The football teams now have foreigners representing their team. After reading these logical propaganda arguments, we would transform to become proud of any imports that is representing Singapore.
When in doubt, reread the Standard Propaganda Literature. Reading it a few more times helps to help your mind think in the right way.
I think Mark Richmond and Jade Seah tried to dish out some of those stuff on "Today In Beijing" about half an hour ago.It was a very awkward 5 minutes when they were trying to justify the govt's stance.
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What's there to stop the Govt from importing a hundred more foreign sports talents within a year,suit them up with a pink IC and sending them in to participate in every single olympic event?
Imagine we sent a team of french singaporeans for fencing,a team of nigerians for track meets,a team of foreign players(albeit with a pink IC) for each other competable sport.Do we still consider that as NATIONAL PRIDE even if we do win in the end?
...
We should at least have sent out a "LOCAL" team that is comparable in size to our "French Foreign Legion".That way,it will be more suited to Singapore's image of a "melting pot divesity".
If u ask me, if the nigerian come over when he is 10+ and train for about ten years here, I treat him as a singaporean and will cheer him when he run and win a medal.
And singapore do send out locals to the olympics like sailing and shooting and paralympics.
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Originally posted by baikachuchu:
What's there to stop the Govt from importing a hundred more foreign sports talents within a year,suit them up with a pink IC and sending them in to participate in every single olympic event?
It is easy to let our imagination run wild, with a so called 'french foreign legion type sports team' to replace our own flesh and blood citizens.There are still people whom money cannot buy. Their national pride and duty to their citizens are strong, just as most of us Singaporeans are in equal measure.
There never was any intention to replace our own valuable citizens. We had been too hardworking and focus largely too much on academic excellence for too long. Our mindsets are difficult to change. Thus, the reliance on fields further away to bring in talent which we lack, not that our youths do not have this capability, just that our priorities were on another field.
And such talents are not and never were top seeds or even within the top ranks. Some were even rejects. So if any China citizen were to comment that our Spore citizens or PRs were China born, or get too 'uppity' themselves, just a gentle reminder that they were rejects would put them in their place.
These people were supported, encouraged, and funded by our citizens' effort. If not for us, they wouldnt even be able to go to the SEA games, let alone Olympics.
Eugenics are a flawed and dead science. It is nurture, and not nature, that wins hand down always. Our citizen, since 13 years old, swimmer Tao Li, whom did us citizens proud, even over and above the table tennis team, is a prime example of what nurturing can do.
The purpose and ultimate aim of the Sports Foreign Talent Programme was to prove to fellow citizens that our system can work, to produce sportspersons not only to participate in major tournaments, hopefully to win medals, but also succeed in life once their career in the sports are over. The million dollar prize is one tag, and our School of Sports is another.
China rejects/imports were the frontline to convince citizens, to break their mindsets. The second-line would be our citizen youths. If we want our own flesh and blood to represent our nation, then we must do our part and give our fullest support. But if not, somehow or another, the nation will continue with the SFT programme till we citizens are ready to work on mental and physical excellence, beside just academic stellar performance.
Brains alone does not a nation maketh or have the ability to forge a national identity of strength.