The Olympical Paradox of Citizenship
I love the idea of foreign talent, after all my ancestors were from China (supposedly) and that gives me hope of at least being a talent. So, who is regarded as foreign talent and who’s not? There’s foreign talent from the corporate world, the arts, sports and perhaps even government. Government, you say? Relax; we’ll throw in the punch line later. Over the years, the same issues have been reiterated ad nauseum about foreign talent. Superlatives like ‘overpaid’ and ‘underachieving’ have been commonly used against ‘them’ so let’s just use ‘them’ as a simple form of objectification. After all it’s better than labeling them as foreign talent right?
Let’s focus on Sport today since the Olympic fever has been eliciting nationalistic tendencies amongst our denizens - their loyalty unwavering in support of a particular superpower. ‘Them’ in Sports however skeptical the locals are of their abilities are readily accepted by governing bodies of their various sport. Singapore’s only natural resource is people, so we import them - brilliant. ‘Them’ would proclaim their loyalty and desire to fight and win for the country and suddenly, the same issues of trust and reliability don’t crop up when compared other forms of ‘them’.
So, why issues of trust and reliability are left unquestioned? When it comes to Sport anyway? A plausible explanation could be individual sporting excellence is simply regarded as unimportant in our lives. Or rather, the locals don’t need to be fitter, don’t need a culture of sport but we just need to get richer by having a sporting culture created by ‘them’. The MBA syndrome is at work here and it doesn’t matter how many fat slobs watch ‘them’ defeat S.Korea for we now have a culture of Sport and a sense of achievement - albeit bought. Purchasing is obviously easier than developing right?
If I weren’t so negative about it, let’s hope ‘them’ will serve as an impetus for inspiring younger talent to come forward and play. Eventually 'them' might become good coaches so who knows?
The real concern about foreign talent has always been about whether they are worth their tag (price?). Talent aside, what if someone is willing to die for you and protect your country? Would you give this person citizenship? I have a better name for such a person - a Gurkha, or mercenary as others would put it. Want to be a Singaporean though, be a sportsman. Once you don the national colours, the warm feeling of Majula Singapura will overwhelm you with emotion. Wait, while the anthem is played we need a Chinese translation and most other times an English one as well.
Let’s focus on Sport today since the Olympic fever has been eliciting nationalistic tendencies amongst our denizens - their loyalty unwavering in support of a particular superpower. ‘Them’ in Sports however skeptical the locals are of their abilities are readily accepted by governing bodies of their various sport. Singapore’s only natural resource is people, so we import them - brilliant. ‘Them’ would proclaim their loyalty and desire to fight and win for the country and suddenly, the same issues of trust and reliability don’t crop up when compared other forms of ‘them’.
So, why issues of trust and reliability are left unquestioned? When it comes to Sport anyway? A plausible explanation could be individual sporting excellence is simply regarded as unimportant in our lives. Or rather, the locals don’t need to be fitter, don’t need a culture of sport but we just need to get richer by having a sporting culture created by ‘them’. The MBA syndrome is at work here and it doesn’t matter how many fat slobs watch ‘them’ defeat S.Korea for we now have a culture of Sport and a sense of achievement - albeit bought. Purchasing is obviously easier than developing right?
If I weren’t so negative about it, let’s hope ‘them’ will serve as an impetus for inspiring younger talent to come forward and play. Eventually 'them' might become good coaches so who knows?
The real concern about foreign talent has always been about whether they are worth their tag (price?). Talent aside, what if someone is willing to die for you and protect your country? Would you give this person citizenship? I have a better name for such a person - a Gurkha, or mercenary as others would put it. Want to be a Singaporean though, be a sportsman. Once you don the national colours, the warm feeling of Majula Singapura will overwhelm you with emotion. Wait, while the anthem is played we need a Chinese translation and most other times an English one as well.