TR EMERITUS

OPINION The Singapore Table-Tennis team stunned the world when it beat reigning champions China 3-1 in the World Team Table-Tennis Championship. The team comprised of Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Bei Bei who are all born in China. While the state media has been trumpeting the achievements of the trio, the response from Singaporeans is more muted with few outpouring of congratulatory messages for the team. Is this really Singapore's victory given the fact that the three players are already world-class players when they were "invited" to take up Singapore citizenship? Let us hear what netizens have to say: Andrew Toh: Rocked the sports world?? Don't make me laugh!! There is no pride in this at all. These players are all bought. How many FT players did we go through to win this? How are we expected to continue this success without buying new players?   Lim Ming Wei: If u check the butt. It still says "Make in China" ..   Joel Deng: Born in china but groomed in Singapore, thus not entirely made in china. I reckon we should stop discrediting them and start to accept and embrace the Singapore-FT way of life.   Terence Chua: I somewhat agree with Joel. PAP is screwed, but quit discrediting and giving the wet blanket for every single "Oh-Foreign-Talent" affair. Learn to see what's right within all those wrongs. For one, these China athletes were given a chance by Singapore. It's not like we took a wholesale product and bam, there we go. They trained in Singapore for a long time before they achieved all these. And what's more, we are still Chinese. Quit being a bitch some time.   Haziq Evan Rose: funny though... even the coaches are Made In China..(so its like an overseas experience with motherland trainers, ahh feels like home..) And more hilarious, you identify yourself as Chinese instead of Singaporean? Yes, that is the sad state of Singapore's first world standards-- still playing by race, eh? HOhoHOHoho."   Gary Yue: The whole issue with all these do not lie squarely on the beneficiaries of the sports authorities, but the sports authorities themselves and the political support that they enjoy from the state. And the problem with them lies with their ambition to make a name for themselves, disguised as a national agenda.   Andrew Neo: "China vs China.Where is the glory???I remember being attached to the TV when Ang Peng Siong made waves in Asia and the Olympics games.Shouting my lungs off as a kid at the National Stadium when Singapore was in the Malaysia cup.Remember Fandi Ahmad? Its not that i want to be a pain about FTs but we have been overrun by them and unless we make a stand now,the Singapore we know may be a thing of the past. As a citizen who has served NS and all 10 cycles of reservist training,i feel i have the right to bitch about all the so called FTs now who can swagger in get citizenship rights to vote (probably for the PAP) without first serving NS.   Clement Tan: China team B beat China team A. Still China Team A must be unhappy. Correct me if I am wrong, even HK has one or two HK-born table-tennis players representing it. Why bother with soccer, just make Usain Bolt a Singaporean, and instant glory with the world's fastest man.   Loke Yu Ming: Are sporting victories ends, or means to inspire our local young to take up sports seriously and cultivate national pride? How can we inspire our local young to take up sports when 2 decades after importing the likes of Li Jiawei to spar with our local players so that the latter can improve, our National team now comprises exclusively of mainland Chinese? How can we inspire our local young when schools give scholarships to foreigners who can win sports competitions and school-level sports finals feature foreigners only? How can we cultivate national pride through sports when our winning team does not sing Majulah Singapura? Dont national teams of all countries sing their respective national anthems to mark their victories? This finals is not broadcast on tv obviously because nobody is interested to watch it, despite the ST reporting this team's victories leading up to the finals. Clearly, we are not proud of them.     Read the rest of the discussion on our Facebook here.  Read More →

Director Internal Security Department Email: [email protected] Tel: 62566657 31 May 2010 Re: Mr. Vincent Cheng - ex-Internal Security Act detainee I am writing to you, on behalf of Singaporeans for Democracy (SFD), about ex-ISA detainee Mr Vincent Cheng’s public speaking engagement at the NUS History Seminar 2010 on 4 June 2010, 2.30p.m at the National Library Board (NLB). It has come to public attention that the National Library Board has asked the NUS History Society to take Mr. Vincent Cheng off the speakers’ list. Hence on 4 June 2010, Mr. Vincent Cheng will no longer be on the NUS History Seminar’s panel of speakers. As a registered political association looking into matters of civil and political rights, SFD would like to seek from you answers to the following questions: 1.Did the Internal Security Department or Ministry of Home Affairs officials and/or their agents communicate or meet with the National Library Board representatives over Mr. Vincent Cheng’s speaking engagement there? 2.What is ISD's policy in allowing former detainees, in this case the 1987 group, to speak in public? In answering this question, could you also refer directly to Mr. Cheng’s public speaking rights as an ex-detainee? Singaporeans for Democracy notes that at present there has been no active ban on recent ex-detainee publications, although SFD’s member Mr. Martyn See’s documentary Zahari's 17 Years remained banned. As this is a matter of public interest, I would be grateful to receive a timely response. Many thanks for your assistance. Yours sincerely Dr. James Gomez Executive Director Singaporeans for Democracy Editor's Note: This letter is published at the request of Dr James Gomez.  Read More →

Members from the City Harvest Church were among seven people said to be detained this morning by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in a raid which saw their records and accounts being seized, the state media reported in the afternoon. In an official statement released to the media, the Office of the Commissioner of Charities (COC) revealed that it "has received complaints of misuse of church funds against City Harvest Church." "The COC has informed the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and they are investigating some financial transactions involving several individuals and companies related or connected to the City Harvest Church. The COC which had received the complaints informed the CAD when it found that some of the financial transactions may need to be investigated." it was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia. The Straits Times added that "12 people were said to be assisting in investigations which involve charges of falsification of accounts and criminal breach of trust." which appeared to be unrelated into a previous investigation into City Harvest's purchase of a $310 million stake in Suntec City Convention Centre in March this year. The purchase raised some eyebrows among Singaporeans who questioned if registered charities should be allowed to go into business and if the income collected by CHC through its Suntec rentals would be taxed. There are no official comments from City Harvest Church or its founder and Senior Pastor Kong Hee yet. A joint statement by COC and CAD said: "Notwithstanding the ongoing investigations, normal services and religious activities of City Harvest Church need not be disrupted and can continue for its congregation." City Harvest Church was founded by its Senior Pastor Kong Hee in 1989 as a small Bible study group of 20 and has since ballooned to a mega Church with more than 33,000 members.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.   Related articles: >> The thin line between religion and business >> Singaporeans question CHC over Suntec purchase >> City Harvest Church questioned over Suntec stake  Read More →