Score Update - FT 1, Singaporeans 0

Ever wonder why the PAP ministers treat Singaporeans like dirt? Do we really deserve to to be slimed as "small-minded", "unfair" and "very, very selfish"? Does a dog bite the hand that feeds it?

Making reference to the all China-born team that beat China at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow last month, Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan raved and raged that "To deny them the right to call themselves Singaporeans is very, very selfish.  It's very unsportsman like." Oh, we get it - it's very sportsman like when opposition ward Town Councils are denied upgrading funds made available to PAP wards. But we digress, Low Thia Khiang is handling that exposé superbly.

What Balakrishnan fails to understand is that all this mollycoddling of the China paddlers is making xenophobics out of us. Why couldn't an aspiring Singaporean table tennis player be at the tournament to pick up pointers instead of that Lee Jiawei who didn't lift a ping pong bat at the matches? As for making "sacrifices to be here", Balakrishnan should take a look at their bank balance before and after landing at Changi airport. It's not unlike the ministers' situation, before and after they gerrymandered into the ministerial income tax bracket. Even the China import students get free tution, book allowance, hostel accommodation and $400++ monthly pocket money, a total outlay that makes mockery of the $500 NS allowance.

A better example of how FTs are favoured over local born came from a Singapore Sports School student who asked why national jumper Matthew Goh was denied a deferment when he could have made a bid for a bronze medal - and really give us reason to cheer. Matthew is a two time SEA junior gold medalist and the national record holder of Long Jump in Singapore. Balakrishnan's response speak volumes about the double standard: "We normally do support their appeals, but the final decison is made by Mindef". And in case you missed the drift, he adds, "..each competition will have to be assessed on its own merit." China girl paddlers number one, everyone else please stand back in the queue. In stark comparison, and inspite of his sports accomplishments, Matthew still has to "buy my own spike shoes, pay money for my transportation, pay for my apparel, supplements".