One of Singapore’s top imported athelete Zhang Xueling has decided to pack up and return to China.

Consistent with Singapore’s foreign talent policies, we have been importing our top athletes from all over the world (OK, mainly from China anyway) for many years. Our government lures them with promises of good money, rewards for scoring medals as well as the coverted Singapore citizenship/PR status.

However, like what I said in my earlier article when I pointed out that foreign talents can leave anytime, taking our money with them… this has come true. This brings us to the issue on whether foreign athletes/talents are the long-term solution – when they can pack up and leave anytime with hundreds of thousands of Singapore taxpayers’ money.

Why do we need foreign athletes to spruce up our capabilities in sports? Why do we need to be #1 in everything? Our leaders want Singapore to be #1 in everything, so much so that they can field foreign imported players at international games and claim them to be Singaporeans… even though they had mostly trained and became good at their sports while in their home countries. What an irony!

Sometimes I wonder, what do athletes and spectators from other countries think about Singapore? I like to believe that many of them must be laughing their way through the matches at “Singapore’s top players” who are not of Singaporean descent. And our officials are probably ignoring such taunts. Afterall, what matters most to them is that Singapore earns the medals, and not who earns them.

Why can’t we be proud of ourselves, be proud of our own homegrown achievements? If our athletes are not good enough, then so be it! We can be good at other things. Or, if it really matters that much, we have all the money to spare to get top coaches for our homegrown athletes. Why resort to such tactics to win? I’m not proud of Singapore’s achievements in sports. In fact, I find it embarassing.

Imagine when I go on overseas exchange and if somebody asks me about Singapore’s achievements. Should I mention our achievements in sports? Those people who follow sports news will know that Singapore’s top athletes are all imported. When they look at the player, they will probably think, “Hey, that Singaporean player was from China!”. They’ll probably laugh at me. So is it actually Singapore’s achievement or China’s?

Then, let’s think about all the money being thrown in to lure these foreigners to play for us. We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for each medal they bring home from international games. Can this money be better utilised elsewhere, rather than for the purpose of bragging (ineffectively) to the world about our sporting achievements?

Think of all the millions of dollars that could have gone into upgrading HDB flats, subsidising healthcare costs or improving the lives of Singaporeans. Are a few measly medals worth that much?

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