on Aug 18th, 2008Li Jia Wei IS a Singaporean [Response to Iantimothy]
This blog post is in response to Ian Timothy’s post . It was too long a response to comment, so Ian you can read it here instead 
I agree with you completely about donating money. You never know which ones are lying to you. But what we do is between us and our God(s) and what they do with the money is between them and their God(s).
HOWEVER….
I disagree with you saying that Li Jia Wei and the likes are taking Singapore for a ride, or that they are mercenaries.
You see, when I see Li Jiawei, I see a foreign talent and not a Singaporean. Sure, she is a Singapore citizen, but I doubt whether her heart has any place for Singapore. I see someone who is a mercenary. Feng Tian Wei’s case is much less redeeming.
Part of my indignation stems from the fear that they are just taking Singaporeans for a ride. They are just trying to clean us out. Sure, some may argue that we are using them too. Wrong. The powers that be are the ones who are using them. The ordinary citizens foot the bills.
They are on the same level as our construction workers, our domestic maids, our rich ang moh expats… they give us what we don’t have, and in return, they earn a living in this safe and peaceful sunny island.
Is it really wrong of these people to come here to seek a way of life, to seek for opportunity, to seek for riches and happiness? Aren’t these the very reasons why our forefathers, our ancestors arrived to this land?
What more do you want Li Jia Wei to do to prove that she’s a worthy Singaporean? I can’t think of much. She earned us a medal, gained glory for Singapore in numerous table tennis championships, paid her taxes, contribute to the economy of Singapore just by living here. That’s more than what we can say of many “true Singaporeans” like the fake beggars that has been reported, or that you have met.
Sadly, we consider these scums of society, these Singaporeans that have hands and legs and con and cheat us of our monies, true Singaporeans. What? They’re shit but at least they’re our shit?
At least our “foreign talents” earn an honest living, working as athletes, lead a decent life and continue to fight for Singapore, despite getting spit on the face by other Singaporeans.
We keep whining and bitching about how these foreigners are disrupting our way of life. They talk too loud, they don’t speak English, they smell funny etc. etc. When push comes to shove, we’re Asians, us Chinese and Indians are practical and money driven people. If it was a choice between a failing economy and bearing with slightly noisier and smeller neighbours, I bet majority of the Singaporeans would still chose the later.
If you want to criticize these “foreign talents” for coming to our country to “steal” our money, fine, go ahead and stop living in houses, stop patronizing kopitiams that hire China aunties, tell the maids to go back to Indonesia and Philippines, and as a result pay, more taxes because of the decline in women wanting to have babies due to the lack in domestic help. Don’t be a hypocrite just because foreign talents in the sports field are earning much more than these construction workers or maids.
Yes, we are all here for one reason, money. Perhaps you should go find more Singaporeans that are willing to devote their lives to building houses, doing household chores, playing table tennis day and night… not for the money… then we start talking.
Sure, maybe we should question the policy that got them here, even review it, maybe change it, but since none of us really have the monopoly on the truth about the hearts of these individuals, now that they are here, we should treat them as one of us, as a Singaporean.
Let the sin be on them, not us.
The sin is not on them, but on us. We elected our government and gave them the authority to make these choices. I am not saying that the choices they have made are wrong or right, but don’t push the blame on these people that are here for the exact same reason why you and I are here. If anyone were to be blamed, it would still have to be us.
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hey..read your post, going to do an update with regards to the last line..
The sin is on Singaporean because they can’t do what those foreign talents could. Whether is bringing home a medal, or taking $300 for a month to become a maid or taking home $700 to clear plates at hawker. If Singaporeans can do, do we need to get foreigners?
Infact look at it from another side, we’re damn lucky we don’t need to export our people to other countries for cheap labour. When you think of thai woman,prostitutes come to mind, when you think of indo/philippines woman, maids come to mind, when you think of banladeshis, construction workers come to mind. What do other countries people think of singaporean ladies? Air stewardess. We are already lucky. Singaporeans can’t be everything. At times we need the help of others. This is call globalisation and if we have to outsource, then we have to.
so what if…
Well said! I wanted to write about this issue but seriously can’t be bothered with those Singaporean. Everyone is talking about true blue Singaporean. Like screaming I LOVE SINGAPORE during National day or something.
Sometimes I feel that Singaporean are just ashame that they are not the one who achieve the medal themselves. I mean we don’t have enough talent. We need talent. Go give birth to more babies? OMG! I bet other countries are laughing at us for making such fuss for such issue.
Great post!
Thanks for writing this post… I have exactly the same sentiments.
To those people who deride the paddlers for not being Singaporean, at least they have represented Singapore in something. So what have you done to bring glory to Singapore?
[...] A Sliver from Beijing – Hard Hitting in the Lion City: Desperately seeking Singaporean-ess – Hear Ye! Hear Ye!: Taking someone’s ass to be your face – Tales of A Tiger: Buying Our Own Olympic Medal – deadpris: Li Jia Wei IS a Singaporean [Response to Iantimothy] [...]
An absolutely brilliant post about this issue and a fantastic conclusion.
Loved this!
I agree with you on this. The sin, if any, should be placed on the policies of our governments. It is not fair to question their identity as a Singaporean. They did what any other Singaporean would have been expected to, just that they were unfortunate to be a pawn in the government’s policy to win medals by hook or by crook. Of course, people can continue to say that the paddlers shouldn’t have accepted the citizenship blah blah, but if the government didn’t even start on the foreign sports talent scheme, Li and Co. wouldn’t even be in the radar.
Nice entry.
Thanks.
Personally I do not ‘blame’ the Chinese paddlers. But I blame the govt for putting up humongous amount of money into this project, when the ministers eg Vivian bemoan the fact of pushing up assistance amount for our old folks from $300 to $400. This chase for medal with taxpayers money is not something I agree with.
Yes, we voted them in, and the only way to stop this is to send them a message thru the vote!
I am happy if we do not have a medal – done this way. It will just encourage the govt to spend more million on this frivolous trip, to garner honour for some ministers or prime ministers, when half of Singaporeans do not agree that is is money well spent.
Aaron:
I think you misread her conclusion. Did she blame the government?
“The sin is not on them, but on us. We elected our government and gave them the authority to make these choices.”
You asked “What does she have to do to prove that she is a Singaporean”?
Perhaps learn to use the “working language of all Singaporeans”???
@Paul: Chinese IS one of the national languages in Singapore…
I’m not too sure how fluent she is with English.
But I sure as hell know many older generation Singaporeans that can’t speak English.
So… English/Singlish is what defines a Singaporean now?
@familyman: All I’m saying is we shouldn’t target them and put all blame on them. They’re just here for a living
IrCTP,
Indeed I have. Anyway, she’s not wrong to say that by extension, the sin is on all of us as well. That is true too. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will ever have a chance to cast a vote because I’ve always been in walkover GRCs for as long as I can remember, so I guess I will always be a sinner.
Since when did Iantimothy put all the blame on them?
@serene: Not iantimothy… We, as a people, shouldn’t blame Foreign Talents for our Government spending money on them…
Priss,
Blaming FT is easier mah.
Priss: Malay is Singapore’s official national language. Just wanted to clarify.
Aaron: You’re not a sinner. You’re being defeatist.
Actually, you should note that many Singaporeans do not have a choice to vote another party. Then the ruling party has instilled fear in many and on top tried everything possible to discredit any member of the opposition. The PAP claims the opposition is only opposing for the sake of opposing in order to even delegitimize opposing views. On any issue there are different point of views! In Singapore, the ruling party claims to always know it best. To be cynic, one could interpret the attempt to get a medal for the Singapore team in this way as 1. an attempt to generate nationalist sentiment that helps strengthen the regime and 2. an attempt to justify the import of more foreign talent (by constantly repeating how much better they are than Singaporeans, by claiming Singaporeans are to blame for the situation, etc. – a similar argument that is used against Malays for supposedly being lazy) Don’t believe this!
I saw 3 Singaporean women wearing Singapore shirts playing in the games.
I saw the Singapore flag being raised at the games.
I saw ordinary Singaporeans flushed with happiness, when we won the semifinals.
I saw ordinary Singaporeans moan when we lost the final.
We are all Singaporeans.
The 3 girls are Singaporeans.
Let’s not question their allegiance.
My late father was from China and I am a Chinese by race.
As a local born Chinese, I yearn not a medal, whatever it is made of, nor the glory of winning one by any of my fellow countryman or imported talents . The Olympic Spirit was long dead when money was offered as incentive. It is no more sport, it is business, no different from other commercial activities. Shame to the World for losing the spirit and the soul of everything and for commercializing every human activities.
The Sins of the Leaderships in every nations that want more for themselves than for their subjects and countries are mothers of all sins, especially when their countrymen are suffering, even if there are just a minorities of them.
Pity the Foreign Sports Talents; when they come to make a living here, they stunt and contract their own opportunities to better and excel in their sporting endeavours. There are no opportunities for them them to train with likes and better calibres nor are they in the hands of best coaches. But if money is the greatest consolation and satisfaction, the Talents have the Rights to their own decisions. However, note the relegations and compromises of their sporting achievements.
Politics have no place in sports or rather sports can be independent of politics, however, it is such a shame that activitities that were once organized by local communities have now by and large fall into the hands of governments and hence became controlled by politicians. Sporting activities have becom tools for political leaders to manipulate their subjects. The Leaderships can choose to select who to train, who to send for competitions and who to lead the competitors. Oh shit! It is powerplay sports for politicians.
To cut it short, give Singaporeans simple comfortable livings, times to make loves, times to pursue sports and hey, there will be plenty of babies just like before the sixties, even seventies and local sports talents. Tan Howe Liang, Ang Peng Siong, Dollah Kassim, Hills(squash) Fandi Ahmad, Sundramurthy and many others. Ang Peng Siongs’ father, Ang Soon Bee and Choo Seng Quee(soccer) were great local coaches too. There were calibres before, but they have to depend on themselves. Were we rich then? Yes, in everything except money. We were rich in feeling(emotion), kindness, naivety/simplicity, passion and importantly conscientious as humans.
Living is good when simple and it is just a simple wisdom!
patriot.
Hey well written article.Just can’t be bothered with this jealous people.The 3 of them ARE singaporeans.Enough said.If someone were to say those girls didn’t do their best,these people are watching the olympics blindfolded.
On China’s CCTV4 channel, our table tennis captain Li Jia Wei is interviewed and she says:
自己是个北京人, 又是中国人。 我希望能在自己的本土， 自己的地盘上， 能够取得一枚奖牌 。
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=426895254 (26:31 is where she says this)
Says it all.
What does it matter….我们都是中国人
My response can be read on http://www.deadpris.com/2008/08/22/in-defence-of-li-jia-wei-and-our-proud-national-heroes/
I feel that if you cant even play table tennis , you should not criticize someone who can. Our 3 champions is our nation’s heroes and i am proud of them. Also many of you have to come from somewhere and it might be china without you knowing it.
[...] Taking someone’s ass to be your face – Tales of A Tiger: Buying Our Own Olympic Medal – deadpris: Li Jia Wei IS a Singaporean [Response to Iantimothy] – Desparatebeep: Olympic Efforts [Recommended] – Mr Wang Says So: Suffering and Struggle As The [...]
I LOVE YOUR POST! i can’t express how much i hate it when people starts criticising the girls and saying names like “imports”..
it can be SO clearly seen how much they feel and how much effort they have put in for Singapore in the Beijing Olympics 2008. I believe, even though the money was a huge temptation and motivation for the winning of a medal..the honour pride and glory for the country was definitely the priority and main goal they wanna achieve. So people..stop doubting the girls!
GREAT POST! pris you rock!
and i’m really proud of the girls too! =D
Well written article. I’ve been reading so many negative and nasty comments about our Singaporean table tennis girls recently that I actually began to question why I returned to Singapore when I could have stayed in the States. You fill me with hope and re-affirm my decision to return home.
You said many things I wanted to say and you said it better.
Totally agree with you. Esp the part when about why our forefathers arrived on this island. There ain’t any true-blue Singaporean because in the first place there ain’t no race called Singaponese or anything like that. Singapore is a cosmopolitan country!
It’s honours for the pockets and namesake for the self.
If there is no money to be made, no FT will ever come to this tiny land.
When there is no money for winning in the sports, will they spend all their time playing their games?
patriot
Well Patriot,
Gee, you do know that people have been migrating for centuries, right? Would anyone go to any land if they did not find something out there for them, whether it is money, freedom, safety, opportunity, curiosity etc. Most people who seek their fortunes in far away lands do it for a myriad of reasons but it’s always because there is something to gain.
A pro-athletes sport is his job. He gets paid to do it. And if he doesn’t spend his time training, he would not only be a poor sportsmen, he would also be a poor employee.
I don’t see that these sportsmen are any different from most of us working folk. If there was no money in my job, why in God’s name would I bother to spend most of my week working?
There is a difference between a pro-athlete and some guy who just plays his tennis seriously every weekend. For a pro-athlete, his job is his livelihood. He depends on it for his daily expenses and for his future. The guy who plays his tennis seriously every weekend has the luxury of playing it for passion and for fun. Pro-athletes do not have that choice. On days when they feel frustrated and tired and hate the sport that they have chosen to stake their futures on, they still have to shrug it off and go on. It’s not that much different from most working people who wake up with the Monday blues or who drag their feet to their office each morning.
If you have no problem with people who work for money, promotion and fame, you shouldn’t have a problem with pro-athletes who work for money, promotion and fame.
In the case of these table-tennis girls, what motivated them to come to Singapore may actually not necessarily be just simply money. It is extremely difficult to enter the top ranks of table tennis in China. Just look at the quality of Zhang Yining, Guo Yue and Wang Nan. The top 5 women’s players were born in China and play for China. What motivated many of the other China born table tennis players to leave China and seek their fortunes in Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, Austra, US, Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic etc is more likely opportunity, not simply money. In China, it is unlikely that they could ever represent the country. For someone like Feng Tianwei, who’s fervent dream was to win an Olympic medal for her deceased father, she would have to leave China if she wanted to have any hope at all of fulfilling that dream. If any of them hoped to make table-tennis their career they would have to leave China.
So unlike you, I do not pity the foreign talent who come play for Singapore. I do not think that playing in Singapore has stunted their growth. It would seem that playing in Singapore has given them opportunities that they may not necessarily have been offered if they had stayed in the land of their birth.
I don’t see anything wrong with trying to fulfil one’s dream, I don’t see anything wrong with them trying to make an honest living. They work very hard at their jobs and they should be rewarded for it. Make no mistake, winning a medal at the Olympics is a very big deal for athletes. While with that medal often come financial gain, that medal also often means more than just money to an athlete and yes, that includes pro-athletes who play for a living.
My god you ppl who take support the tt girls and claim it as your own glory Have you no shame?! The ends justifies the means is that it? Its self delusional individuals like yourselfs which help the incumbent stay in power by pandering to their rationalisations. There is no honor in that medal, anyone reviewing the circumstance independently can easily see that!
Nope, I don’t claim it as my glory and I support them with no shame at all. I did nothing to get this medal. The glory belongs to those girls who worked very hard to get that medal. The glory belongs to the coaches, the managers and the many people who support and nurture them.
I accept them as my fellow countryman and am proud that they have helped to win our small country a medal. I admire their perseverance, determination and dedication because it is those very qualities any top athlete needs in order to win a prize that difficult to win.
What I do not admire are people who make baseless assumptions and personal attacks. I am NOT a self-delusional individual who panders to the incumbent power. I am a rational human being who came to the decision to accept all immigrants, both good and bad, as my fellow countryman. As long as they have accepted Singapore citizenship, they are my compatriots. It’s a very logical conclusion since there is no such thing as a Singaporean ethnicity, it’s citizenship that makes us Singaporean. Likewise, there is also no such thing as American ethnicity, it is citizenship that makes them American. Even if you’re born in Singapore, you may not become a Singaporean because of the nationality laws of this land. Being born in Singapore does not automatically mean that you’ll become a Singaporean, it’s not entirely a birthright because it isn’t an ethnicity issue which cannot be controlled by any laws, it is a nationality issue.
Being born in Singapore doesn’t make you loyal either. That is a choice. And not being born in Singapore doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot chose to love Singapore and be loyal to it. That, too, is a choice.
Basically, I like the current government. It has it’s flaws but I see nothing wrong with living in a land that is stable and safe. Yes, I help the incumbent stay in power but it’s not self-delusion, it’s a rational decision that I made. My family and I live a good life in Singapore and I don’t see this government as being particularly bad. There are far worst governments in this world and certainly far worst countries to live in.
Thing is Japalang, I could easily say the same things about you. You’re self-delusional too. You can’t accept the fact that immigration is a part of living in this world. In the very beginning, man were mostly nomads anyway. The Inuits in Alaska are said to have crossed the Bering Straits from Asia long before it became impossible to walk across the straits. It is you who can’t accept that that this country is built by immigrants. Unless your ancestors were already on this island before the British came, then you, like most of us, are a child of immigrants and our ancestors came to this very land to seek their fortunes. Nope, they didn’t come with any noble purpose. They didn’t come here simply to love a little island. They didn’t come here to set up a home. They came here to work and after that they intended to go back to their homeland and their families. But in the end they did stay and some did come to love Singapore, others stayed because they had no choice but they stayed and that’s why there is such a nationality as Singaporean.
You know what I am beginning to think? I am beginning to think that all those who cry foul about the National Table Tennis players are actually deeply insecure people who have a chip on their shoulder. They think that their citizenship is a birthright and that with this birthright should come rights, i.e. handouts. Their intolerance and bitterness stems from the fact that deep down, they just don’t want to work for anything at all. They rather the government just give them money. Why should the government care about immigrants? They come and take our jobs, even if those jobs are jobs we don’t care to do or jobs that we aren’t skilled enough to do, we’re still pissed. Why should the government care about immigrants? Even though we have an ageing population and soon the young will have to work harder to support the old if the population isn’t replenished through a good immigration policy. Why should we care about immigrants and foreign talent? They are all disgusting money grubbers. Even though the majority of these immigrants work hard, pay taxes and contribute to our GDP. Why should I like immigrants? They talk loudly and will grab anything. Even though most of rudest people I’ve met in Singapore are Singaporeans.
While clearly the ends should not always justify the means, I really don’t see what is sooooo morally wrong about this at all. They are immigrants who made good. What’s so morally wrong about that? Every year many people are granted citizenship, do you go and question their intentions?
what’s wrong with the gals or the team who managed to get a medal for spore?
did they not work hard on it? they did great.
so why leaving so many bad comments on them? if you think it’s nothing glory abt to earn spore an olympic medal, then try it urself! u will then know how many hardships they need to go thru just to get tat medal.
everyone have their own role in this whole world and in their own life. just like anyone of us who work for money and hope to climb as high as possible and get management’s recognisation. wat’s wrong with that?
is it wrong to give them ‘bonus’ if they won a medal? if it is, then tell ur boss tat from now onwards, u will stop receiving any bonus. tell ur boss tat u will not collecting any commission if u have clinched a deal as it’s ur job.
if you really disagree with the incentives that they are receiving, or unhappy that they are sporean, complain to the government directly. no point attacking the innocents.
why would li defeat wang nan in the 2004 olympic quaterfinals when china was hoping that wang nan would strike gold again ?
why would li let her future son be singaporean ?
forget about what li said in the video, to me, i see li as someone who sees herself as singaporean, but as still has some feelings for china. like me, my mother is a malaysian and i go back to malaysia often, im guessing that li feels the same way to. besides, she did tell the newspaper that : 我觉得虽然自己是一个从中国来的人，可是我能有今天那么好的成绩是因为有了新加坡
if all of that doesn’t tell you that she’s a singaporean, i don’t know what will. the tears after li lost to guo and feng lost to zhang already allows idiots to know that they want to win. go ahead and scream ‘ ITS FOR THE MONEY ! ‘ when you know that the are already rich enough to go on shopping sprees whenever they wish, it just shows how shallow and stupid you are to judge people just because they were not born in the country that they represent
i suggest you guys watch this, then come back and comment on jiawei.
its a miracle that she’s still training in singapore after all the hard work she has put in and all the crap she has to take from us singaporeans.
http://www.56.com/u78/v_NDE2MzQ3NjQ.html
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
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