Asking the wrong questions

"Team Singapore's bowling contingent returned from Doha on Tuesday and was greeted by family, friends and fans at Changi Airport. The bowlers brought home one gold, two silver and two bronze medals from the 15th Asian Games. It was a roaring welcome for the Team Singapore bowlers and a victorious homecoming for Valerie Teo and Michelle Kwang. The duo scored gold in the women's bowling doubles and created a new Asian Games record as well." - CNA, 12 Dec 06

Well done. 'nuff said!


"Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development and Sport, says: "In the future, we need people who are totally dedicated to sports to make an impact. So I'll keep an open mind and I'll be most happy to expand the scheme if we've got the talent available, who are willing to dedicate their lives to achieve glory for Singapore." - CNA, 12 Dec 06

And so what if we do not have enough "talent available"? We can take the money to train our own people to become 10th place, 100th place, last place! Also "song"! My money spent on my own people, I shiok! 虽败犹荣! We throw money at foreigners. Even if they lead us to 1st place, SO WHAT? 胜之不武!

This is not biotech research where one still has some room to argue that the imported scientist will definitely may somehow help create jobs for ph.d. holders from other countries local Human Batteries, blah blah blah. What is the big hooha in the case of sports?

National sporting events should be about a hugh number of fans rooting for their fellow local heros - the neighbourhood boy whom we traded cards with in primary school, is now our soccer or swimming or whatever hero; the shy little gal whom we admired from afar donkey years ago, is now the national sporting heroine etc. The "political agenda", if any, should be about galvanising the citizens to a common cause ("let's do our best to bring glory to our nation"), national spirit, nation-building, pride in the nation ("we can do it too"), blah blah blah.

Tell me, what the F has all these "agenda" to do with outsiders, like the one below?

Aha, I get it: the political agenda (this time no quotation marks) is to import a few foreigners who can win gold in some sporting events, so that locals will be proud of them, so that locals will become more receptive to foreign imports in general -- a means to an end: "See? If we did not import this foreigner, how would we have won this gold? So from this isolated example, we can see that it is good to import more foreigners to our science, biotech and IT and construction sector, and in fact, every sector of our society"!

...and hopefully in this way, Human Batteries all over the Matrix Island will forget to ask the correct question: Who is the one who issued the "stop reproducing " decree, which has now resulted in insufficient Human Batteries available, and which has led to the need to import outsiders, and which is the one and only reason why we are throwing money so freely at foreign Batteries to entice them here???

Agent Brown: Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions.