Here's a sport thing.

So here's a thing that popped up on my newsfeed recently

SEA Games Surprise wins - A wake-up call

The quick summary for those who decide not to read: Lots of SEA games wins this year, many of which unexpected (both in type of sports and players). Spotlight is thrown onto (allegedly) poor funding of various sports, unless you are popular, like soccer and badminton. It then goes on to talk about the Foreign Sports Talents scheme and the its supposed value and impact on our athletes, both projected and actual.

Now here's my take:

First of all, the article itself is obviously written by a local person; there are a lot of traces of bias which can turn people off, especially if they don't agree with you. However, acknowledging that, I do agree with what he/she is trying to say, perhaps just needing to tone down and be a bit more objective.

The bureaucracy of our sports organizations, much like every other one in our very "efficient" culture, is and has always been very results-oriented. I don't know if this speaks to our maturity as a nation but I feel that as more and more people speak up about the "cold" way of doing and managing such large scale organizations, it seems that at least people are starting to question the old way of doing things.

We have always been a very economics-based society. We set a goal and we try to accomplish it. In the past, we decided that we needed money, so we pursued education in math and science at the expense of the local art scene. At some point, we decided to be a transport hub, so Changi Airport and our various trading ports got huge (Incredibly huge!) upgrades, the cost of which is not very clear right now. Now (or at least a few years ago), we have decided that we wanted to win more medals, so we imported athletes. Bear in mind that if you were a politician who made the plan to help us get more medals, we have actually succeeded quite remarkably. The problem is, as always, an oversight of the human cost. These are often costs that do not bear any significant economic value on a spreadsheet but nonetheless have an impact on society. The struggle of the arts scene stand testimony to that fact. And perhaps what's worse is that as a politician, it's a cost I'm will to bear because 1) I'm not losing any money and 2) I'm not losing any voters.

The foreign athletes issue is also brought up. As angry and resentful as I could be, I'm actually much more tired than anything else. The writer actually seems a bit young to me as a result of this, because this line of reasoning and more importantly, this chain of events is something that has been happening throughout Singapore for the last who-knows-how-many years, in just about every facet of Singaporean life, from education to employment. Every time the foreign workers  issue is brought up, it's always the same "oh they will help bring us to a higher level" or some other overused excuse that just seems lazy now that it's almost 2014. And everyday, locals will lose out to foreigners because the entirety of our society cannot compete with the best of the another's, those of which our government is actively trying to woo. At the end of the day, I'm just tired that my government is more easily impressed by the number of gold medals that "we" won as opposed to the person who won that medal.

That is not just a sports analogy.