The next person who says they’re not proud of the silver medal our table tennis girls got, I’m gonna whack the hell out of them.

We have to stop saying that the girls are from China and they’re not born and did not grow up in Singapore. Ronald Susilo studied in Singapore since he was young but still known as an Indonesian. WHEN WILL YOU GET THAT THEY ARE SINGAPOREANS NOW?

How can a foreigner-became-Singaporean athlete be proud to represent us if we don’t even give them support? If we only see them as “from China”, “from Indonesia”, “from wherever”… Some of my friends mention that it is because I’m not living in Singapore now, that I have this patriotism thing going on. WRONG. Even when I was still living in Singapore, I’ve always tried to participate in my local community events. But that’s not my point now.

Seriously, we have to start accepting that we are a small country that NEEDS FOREIGN TALENT. Especially in the area of sports, until parents allow their children to take part in sports seriously and train to be a future athlete to represent Singapore. But 98% of parents will never allow that, they would rather their son/daughter excel in languages, Mathematics, Science or music but never will they allow sports.

It is not easy to give up your citizenship. Whether you did it for career, fame or money, it is not easy. No doubt the money is tempting but please quit saying they’re here SOLELY for the money. Some of the retired athletes got married and settled down in Singapore. They could have gone back to their motherland, China since both husband and wife were born and grew up in China but they didn’t. Most of these athletes are adapting to the Singaporean lifestyle so why can’t we, as Singapore-born and bred, learn to accept them and to welcome them with open arms.

table tennis team: YOU GIRLS ARE AWESOME. GOOD LUCK FOR TOMORROW.
to the rest: well done! Singapore’s proud of you!

screw whoever who said they’re not Singaporeans.
they are freaking getting a medal for SINGAPORE.
and they ARE Singaporeans.

i’m such a Team Singapore fan.
i actually get SMS results from every single event Singapore participated at the Olympics. (and i’m in Australia!)
for these 9 days, there has been a couple of good games played but some results are disappointing.
one which i definitely did not expect, was for Ronald Susilo to wave goodbye in the first round of badminton.
the other surprise for me (in a good way) was Tao Li whom i thought could change our history! but she did an awesome job, swimming to the finals and coming in 5th.

Team Singapore, Foreign Talent and SINGAPOREANS

Whenever it’s about sporting events, be it the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympics Games or the ASEAN Games, there are always questions about foreign talents being our athletes.

What exactly is the problem for foreign talents to be playing for Singapore?

In the first place, these athletes should not be known just as foreign talent from their birth countries, they have given up their citizenship and are known as Singaporeans. I feel sad for these athletes, most of them have been here for years, still known as a foreigner and will always be a foreigner. They are put under our microscopes, with people analyzing and criticizing every of their behavior.

A forum at Channel News Asia, its title : “Would you be happy if FT won a medal?” (or something on the same line) My answer, YES. They won a medal for MY and YOUR country, Singapore, why would you not be happy? If you are not satisfied that they are not Singaporean-born, encourage your children to be active in sports, to excel in them and participate in sporting events. But, most parents would just say how waste of a time it is, to train and excel in a particular sport. So, if you are not proud that foreign talent won a medal and you are not willing to encourage young Singaporean-born to be athletes, should we start to announce our withdrawal from all international sporting events? Bringing in foreign talent should not be seen as a replacement for Singaporean-born athletes. They are our talent, they are here to bring glory to Singapore and together, bring Singapore to higher grounds in sports. However, this will only happen if we are willing to support them, to acknowledge their efforts and to make them part of Singapore.

the dark knight, olympics and NDP 08

thankfully, olympics was broadcasted live on Ch 7.
if not this month, i won’t be able to download any more stuffs online.

just watched NDP 08 with ching via STREAMING. >_>
we initially planned to go uni to watch it but i was too lazy to go out.
so i asked her to come over and we’ll stream it.
NDP was still cool though i’d wish there was more of the “traditional” segments.
like NSF standing in rectangles and not “N D P”
and national songs interlude in-between acts/scenes.
anyways, it was kinda fun watching with ching. we both gave our equal comments/complaints. xP

beijing olympics 2008 opening ceremony.
one of the main events that i really anticipated (even more than NDP).
IT WAS AN AWESOME PERFORMANCE!
really love the keypad-looking, taichi masters and contemporary dance items.
main reason, i was waiting to see our Singaporean athletes.
it totally ruined the surprise when a commentator mentioned that it was based on the number of strokes in the first chinese character. (which is why Australia is 3rd last).
i counted the number of stroked for “xin” and i went to bed. LOL
i’ve seen the cut on youtube though, Li Jiawei didn’t do a great job on it but hey, she’s kinda petite to be carrying that. just watch it carefully, stop blaming her!

watching the dark knight was unexpected.
while we were at West End market this morning, Ching asked if i’ve seen the dark knight. if not, will i be interested in it. so i went with her, i mean i don’t mind watching it together~
it was a good movie but not a fantastic movie that you’ll die with regrets if you don’t watch it.
with all due respect to Heath Ledger, who has done a terrific job as a Joker, the entire movie did not really make it up to my expectations. (all thanks to everyone who told me how great it was, i had huge expectations for it.)

cards and thoughts.

i was reading through some cards i got from singapore or even before i left.
i’m sorry, i totally forgot about them and only got to reading them now.

most of the letters and cards are from my sister who wanted me to read them while i was in singapore.
but i totally forgot about it. (i’m sorry… T_T)

reading them, i think you guys know me a lot more than myself.
and reading those made me feel “awake”? i don’t know how to express that feeling.
but please await for jas as she regains her self-confidence till like before!