Thursday, December 14, 2006

Ball Carriers

温仁德:亚运创佳绩 “秘方”是总理
宋以彬(多哈报道)
  新加坡代表团在本届亚运会上能取得空前的佳绩,原来是有一个“秘方”,那就是李显龙总理前去探营
  新加坡体育理事会总裁温仁德表 示,李总理在多哈亚运会开始 前,到选手村去探望了我国健儿,亲自为他们加油打气,虽然时间不长,但却对整体士气起了很大的作用。
  他说:“这就像总司令到前线为士兵打气一样。这样的举动,让新加坡运动员受到很大的鼓舞。” -- 联合早报,14-12-06

Oon Jin Teik: Asian Games' spectacular result - "secret formula" is Prime Minister
Singapore was able to achieve such unprecedented results in Asian Games because of a "secret formula": PM Lee Hsien Loong visited the team! Singapore Sports Council CEO Oon Jin Teik said... "(he) was like a commander who went to the frontline to support his soldiers. Such a gesture lifted the morale of the singapore team tremendously" - Lianhe Zaobao, 14-12-06



Do you feel like puking after reading the above? The Human Battery does! Every of my goose pimple came out. "Commander"?!? "Frontline"?!? Hello, he travelled on first class, said a few words, and enjoyed himself in Doha, at taxpayers' expense! Was that not what he did?

But oh, what a hugh difference his mere presence made! Yup, nothing to do with hard work or daily training. Nothing to do with the individuals at all. In fact, we don't even need the sport school. Lee is the only needed "secret formula“ behind for success!

In English, we call such a person a sycophant, toady, crawler, lackey, bootlicker, apple polisher, fawner, groveller, truckler, ass-kisser!

In Chinese, we call this 拍马屁, 舔痣 (literal: lick hemorrhoid - originated from an ancient story where a man did exactly that to win the favour of his master. I supposed the closest English equivalence would be "ass-licker")!

But personally, I prefer the following 3 words, popularised by the taiwanese press, after its foreign affair minister accused his singapore counterpart of bootlicking Mainland China:

捧卵脬
(Hanyu pinyin: peng3 luan3 pao2.
Hokkien: Por Lam Par
Literal: carrying balls)

You SSC CEO and/or Zaobao journalist are really ball carriers!

Sorry, no Matrix quotes available. No one in The Matrix movie carried balls so shamelessly!

7 Comments:

At Thursday, December 14, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hello from Lisbon/Portugal

 
At Friday, December 15, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This CEO chap was from ACS. Represented Singapore in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and lost, of course. Not surprising, since at that time, LKY did not travel to LA to provide the "secret formula" for achieving Gold! Now if only LKY had been as good a "commander" as his son, and bravely marched to the "frontline" to meet his "soldiers", I am sure Mr. Oon would have gotten a gold medal! hahaha!

Oh, btw, seems like this chap was a good role model for his alma mater. Or was it the other way round - he having learnt the art of apple-polishing from his alma mater? Doesn't matter. You can read about it here: "Mr Oon Jin Teik (Class of ’79) is yet another ACSian who has done our alma mater proud when he was recently appointed to high office as Chief Executive Office of the Singapore Sports Council (SSC)..."

SSC CEO post is considered "high office" leh. Like that, I suppose MP post must be "high high office", PM post is "high high high office". keke. What's the English idiom for this? "The apple does not fall far from the tree"? Or is it "birds of a feather flock together"? Haha. ACS indeed!

In that same article, Oon said: "“I wished I were a natural sportsman, so that I did not have to work so hard! It was sheer hard work, and I attribute my successes in the pool to..."

What RUBBISH! It was not due to his hard work nor was it due to his mentor, or his god. His "success" was simply due to one thing: LKY having been a good "commander" - though, alas, not good enough, since LKY did not go to the "frontline". I am sure Mr. Oon was disappointed with him.

 
At Friday, December 15, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

you're totally right. i just threw up my lunch after reading the newspaper quote. man, i think nus should offer a PLP course....

 
At Friday, December 15, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sure wah... Just like the country's good economic performance is only due to MIWs. That is why they must be paid million salary. The peasants' contribution is nothing because they can be replaced by FTs anyway. ANUS management has already practised PLP so there is very little effort to start a PLP course.

 
At Friday, December 15, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is why he is still around to make people puke. He's one of those who appears at the right places at the right time, from the very beginning when he chose the right mommy's tummy. Never mind that his ego is a billion times over-sized.

The Oon guy is just a paid extra in his epic movie, so that the main actor can appear at the right time to claim credit for all the hard work others have put in.

 
At Friday, December 15, 2006, Blogger dlanorpi said...

Hmm... I suspect a misquote as usual.

 
At Sunday, December 17, 2006, Blogger The Human Battery said...

Finally, a reader wrote to Lianhe Zaobao'f forum page today to "scold" this Oon Jin Teik. The online version does not contain the entire letter, as is zaobao's practice on sunday, probably to entice people to buy the printed version of the newspaper:

戴金龙 17-12-06
看到《亚运创佳绩“秘方”是总理》的报道,很吃惊,想不到体育理事会总裁竟然会说出这样的话,可说完全抹煞了选手们多年的努力。总理到选手村去探望我国健儿,亲自为他们加油打气,固然可以提振士气,却不可能是创佳绩的“秘方”!倘若健儿们完全不靠实力,只以总理探访的“秘方”就能创佳绩,那我们还需要花巨资去训练健儿吗?...

Translation:
After reading the report titled "Asian Games' spectacular result - 'secret formula' is Prime Minister", I was very shocked. Never had I expected the Sports Council CEO to say such a thing. It can be said that he has completely dismissed the years of hardwork that the athletes have put in. By visiting our atheletes and personally encouranging them, the Prime Miinister certainly could have raised their morale, but it is impossible that this was the "secret formula" for creating spectacular result! If the atheletes need not rely on any real abilities, and could simply used the "secret formula" of the PM's visit to achieve spectacular result, why do we still need to spend hugh amount of money to train the athletes....

-----------
This letter is too diplomatic. Left out are the "sycophant, toady..." part of my post. Well, I guess that's why blogging has its place: it is more shiok to vent out fully on a blog. keke.

 

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