Random thoughts on foreign-born athletes

As the 15th Asian Games commences in Doha, our athletes begin their pursuit of sporting gold. Even as many Singaporeans cheer our team on, there is still a nagging feeling among some that we cannot truly call some of them our own, even if they are Singapore citizens. These are the players under the "Foreign Talent Scheme". Even though the scheme has been in place for more than a decade (The scheme was first launched in 1993 by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and was known as Project Rainbow, see Google's cache of www.reach.gov.sg here.), but it's a perennial issue that remains unresolved. Recently, some letters were published regarding this.

Straits Times Nov 23, 2006
Foreign talents should deliver gold at Asiad
Patrick Tan Siong Kuan

Straits Times Nov 23, 2006
Give foreign-born talents a break
Loh Ka Wai

Straits Times Nov 25, 2006
Stop stressing that some athletes are foreign-born
Dr Kwan Soo

Contents of the original letters can be found by googling.

Sporting excellence and nationalism


Sporting excellence and nationalistic feelings of pride seem to go inexorably together in the international sporting scene. When Man U meets Juventus, it's not just Man U meets Juventus; it's a battle between an English club and an Italian club. There is a sort of primal tendency to attach these nationalistic feelings to sports, and that is why sports is a great way to build camaraderie and national identity. The reason for this association between sports and nationalism seems to be geographical in nature. Some people think it is money, because the state pays for these sportsmen, but I think otherwise, because if Man U was to be bought over by a Singaporean, it would still be considered an English team and not a Singaporean team, agreed?

When our athletes compete, they represent Singapore. But I wonder,do they represent Singapore incidentally, or is it because they want to? As in, all sportsmen want to excel in what they do, but why do they end up representing the countries that they do? And what is the significance to them? If the athlete is born and bred in Singapore, most Singaporeans would assume it is natural for them to represent Singapore and these questions would never arise in the first place. Besides wanting to achieve sporting excellence, there's also the huge prize money for winning a medal, so I'm not entirely convinced that national pride is the most important item of consideration on the Singapore born-and-bred athlete's list. Is there a real difference in attitude between native Singaporean athletes and foreign-born athletes?

Additionally, I don't think there's anything wrong with these athletes wanting to represent Singapore because it's sort of a deal or gamble that both sides have agreed on. Singapore gives them training, opportunities, citizenship, etc, they help raise the standard of local players and perform for us in the international arena. Just consider it as some sort of government scholarship and bond. The analogy holds in a few ways. If you don't perform well, you have your scholarship canceled. It appears some sportsmen have been shown the door, see the YoungPAP and BadmintonCentral for reports on shot putter Luan Wei and female hammer thrower E Xiaoxu.

And just as we have bond-breakers, we have sportsmen who use Singapore as a stepping stone. Agu Casmir and Itimi Dickson comes readily to mind. The two Niegerian-born soccer players were dropped from the Singapore team for their poor performances and were ready to fly off to play in another country despite becoming citizens. I'm not sure if this contravenes any agreement they have with FAS since they are playing at club level and not immigrating or something. Still, their actions say a lot about their attachment to Singapore, and many locals felt cheated. The way FAS splashed out even more money to deal with the issue furthered angered Singaporeans.

In general though, I'll think that empirical evidence suggests that most players under the Foreign Sports Talent scheme are not like that, in the sense that at least we don't hear of such controversies in the news often. What can be done for the minority who take Singaporeans for fools? Stricter guidelines and regulations can be set when these athletes take part in the Foreign Talent Scheme, and also try to integrate them into our society. Additionally, if the Singapore Sports Council can reveal how many of these foreign sportsmen there are and how many eventually become citizens, we might get a better feel of how well the scheme is attracting athletes who become part of our society.

Competition for team places and funding

AP Dr Yaacob Ibrahim has this to say on foreign sporting talents,

Sir, Mr Ng has also mentioned about our foreign sports talent policy. Let me just reiterate the policy that we had clarified last year. Our stand on foreign sports talent is clear. Any import of foreign sports talent must be to complement our own local athlete development. Foreign sports talents are not a substitute for local talents.

It's not entirely obvious to me why foreign sports talents are not substitutes for local talents. Unless they compete in different competitions and they received different funding and there is some selection criteria based on country of birth, then isn't it clear that given a limited number of places on a team, that choosing a foreign-born talent denies a local one of a place on the team or that sponsoring a foreign-born talent denies a local one of the funding?

Foreign-born citizens and foreign talent - when does the latter become the former?


Quoting Patrick Tan,

Secondly, no matter how one disguises it, deep down they are still foreigners. They lack the same passion as local-born athletes. Majulah Singapura has very little meaning to them and they are likely to have more feelings for and affinity to their former compatriots than to Singaporeans.

It seems that some people cannot accept that foreigners become foreign-born citizens when they get their pink ICs. Patrick voices a reasonable view of foreign-born sportsmen, but one which I would disagree with. This boils down to the question, "what does it mean to be a Singaporean?" What is the criteria? Is it country of birth? Is it where you grow up? Is it where you are currently living in or working at? Is it where you can fulfill your dreams? Is it where you are unafraid to fail? Is it what you eat or wear? Is it the way you talk, or think? Is it the people you care about? Is it just the passport you hold? Is it all of the above? Or none of the above?

Granted this is not an easy question to answer, if it is there wouldn't be a controversy. If no one can agree on what it means to be Singaporean , what sort of answer do we hope to get when we keep pressing the issue on them? As Jing Junhong tells the Straits Times,

I've been in Singapore for more than 12 years, I married a local and I'm the mother of a four-year-old Singapore boy.

I've been proud and happy all these years but, every now and then, there will be some who will bring up these questions of loyalty and citizenship.

Really, what can I say? Is there any way of proving myself? Is there a test I can take?

Just buying medals?

There is still a gnawing feeling that these athletes are treated like commodities. Are we just taking the easy way out, trading money for medals? Put in another way, do we just import winners? I have heard of this view many times, and to some extent, I agree that it's entirely plausible. An example would be Jing Junhong. Yahoo! states her DOB as Oct 13, 1968, and the earliest date I could find of her representing Singapore is 1996. We know Project Rainbow started in 1993, so if Jing was recruited in 1993, she should be around 25. I'll think she would have acquired enough skills by then, so the training she would have received form SIngapore would be limited.

But some athletes do come to Singapore in their formative years to be trained, like Ronald Susilo, Li Jiawei, Zhang Xueling, Tao Li:

Table tennis player, Zhang Xueling, said that Singapore had offered
her a great opportunity to groom her skills. "When the offer was
made, my family discussed what would be the best for me - and
it was obvious that Singapore would be best. I was not a very
good player five years ago... I had some talent and Singapore was
prepared to help me develop it. I know why I am here - it is not
temporary. That is why I not only work on my game every day but
also work hard at my English classes."
Added fellow table-tennis player Li Jiawei: "I have been here since
I was 15. And I improved the most while I was here. And when I
compete, I do it for Singapore."

Singapore does spend time, effort and money to train some of these athletes. They come to Singapore when they are young and train with the local players, so it's not like buying medals, but rather it's like investing in a potential. I do find it satisfying that we can develop players who wouldn't have made it into the team in their homeland, and then train them till they are so good that they can beat their native country at their own game. But ultimately, we should move away from these terms like "buying" or "investing", because they come here to fulfill their dreams. That's the Singapore I want, where people can fulfill their dreams, regardless of where they come from.
Culture


In the recent years, much attention has been given to the sports, with the setting up of the Sports School, increased emphasis of sports in education, holding of international sports events, and a great part of the budget used to promote it. But I think that the journey is still long before we reach a stage where we can can say that we have a culture that encourages sport as a career, where parents will not sacrifice sports for studies. Are the potential athletes themselves willing to devote their time and energy for intense training like their counterparts in other countries?

Sporting as a career is still not a viable option due to the economics involved. The possibility of making it big in sports appears to be small. What do these athletes do when they don't achieve their potential in a knowledge-based economy? Can they say that someone owes them a living? Don't think so, so balancing school work and sports is what most Singapore students do, be it at secondary or tertiary level. For most people, achieving excellence in either is tough, something's gotta give.

National identity

All this debate on foreign-born athletes suggests to me that most Singaporeans have an idea of what Singapore means to them even though it is not the same for everyone. The Foreign Talent Scheme is a part of the foreign talent policy that does not affect most Singaporeans. Our jobs and livelihoods are not visibly affected, but we have strong opinions on who should represent Singapore sports. In a way, it shows that we do have a sense of belonging to Singapore and want to have a say in who we want to join us.