Globalisation: Foreign Talent

I just realised that at least two large chapters in the SS syllabus deal with this highly debatable and sticky issue. Our prime minister came forward to say that in sports, there is nothing wrong in it as every country does it. That may be true, but even if many people do something, does that make it right?Check this out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7574379.stm

Tan Dawn Wei in the Straits Times was arguing that in age of Globalisation, citizenship is a very fluid thing. There are literally millions of people in the world who are living and working in places not of their birth. And like reasons our own ancestors came to this small island, people still move to find better opportunities and lives. to live better and for their children to live better. We cannot fault people for wanting that.

The issue then becomes one of loyalty, patriotism, nationhood and the integrity of sports. Many intangible concepts which are prized but are not easily defined. We, Singapore have been accused by others in the SEA games for fielding a China team and there is some truth to that. All our table-tennis girls are born in PRC.

This makes for a complex issue. We cannot fault them for wanting better opportunities by coming here. There is no question in that. But what we should expect are the accusations that we are buying our medals and incapable of producing our own. This statement has quite a strong element of truth in it and it is a deliberate policy on the part of the government. But, at the rate the immigration is going, the non-Singapore born in Singapore will make up half of the country and when that happens, fielding such teams is inevitable. This is happening all over the world and nothing can stop this tide.

For me, I think that the spirit of sports in a nation is the most important. Get people to like it, get people involved and slowly, somethings will come. In Singapore, sometimes we focus too much on results and not the process. Hopefully the youth games can change that. This is one issue to tackle, do we really need these players or could we slowly do well ourselves? That is the question we should try to answer as a nation.

Maybe our Olympic success is a true reflection of Singapore now. Achievement through new immigrants and the need for them in order to survive. One thing's for sure, our Singaporean identity is sure to be in caught up in the complexities of globalisation.