I met Li Jiawei a long time ago. She struck me to be a quiet, unassuming person and quite pleasant. No airs about her. Of course I cannot claim to know her. I only talked to her that one time but I liked her.
In the last few days since Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu won the Women's Team Table Tennis silver at the Beijing Olympics there have been lots of news about them in the papers and lots of comments on the Internet. And a lot of it have been downright nasty, so nasty that I've taken to avoiding reading the papers or blogs or forums because I cannot stomach how horribly nasty people can be.
First there were the comments that Li Jiawei purposely dragged Singapore's flag on the ground when she walked in during the opening ceremony. Truth is, I don't think she knew that the flag was touching the ground. Fact is, I didn't even notice it myself. All I saw was her radiant smile and her waving enthusiastically at the stands. Personally I always feel that if someone is looking for something bad to say, they'll find it and I feel bad for her because a lot of the comments online were really malicious. Yes, she isn't suppose to drag that flag on the ground but I don't think that she did it on purpose, so why all the hate and the assumptions that she did it on purpose because she's not Singapore-born. Gosh, like all these maggots who yelled bloody murder have actually met her and talked to her and know something the rest of us don't.
I thought Singaporeans would be more tolerant and accepting of immigrants because our entire society is make up of immigrants. The very fact that we're called Singaporeans indicates that. Singapore is a country and being Singaporean is a nationality. It's not a race, it's a nationality. There is no ethnicity or race called Singaporean. If some one takes up Singapore citizenship, they are Singaporean.
I find this intolerance of immigrants quite appallingly disgusting quite frankly. The world is made up of immigrants. At one point in time in history, most of the ancestors of most people in most countries in the world did not live on the land they currently live on.
And why all this nastiness with regards to the table tennis girls? Several of our footballers were not born in Singapore, Susilo was born in Indonesia. So why not be critical of them too? Hey, quite a few of our cabinet ministers were not born in Singapore, they were born in Malaysia, so are we suggesting that they'll betray us all now???!?!?!
Most of these Singaporeans that write these nasty letters, even those so-called journalists, have no concept or understanding of professional sports or sports in Singapore in general.
It's so easy for so many of them to criticise the government and the SSC for not nurturing Singapore-born Singaporeans. But it really has not been for the want of trying. Most Singaporeans either do not see the value of sports, do not see future in being a sportsmen or can not endure what it takes to be a professional sportsman. I've spoken to many a young sportsman and woman during the course of my work in the past and each time they echo the same thought and that is that they rather place emphasis on their academic studies. Sports was never a priority for them. Compare this to Feng Tianwei's comment in the papers that she dreamt of winning an Olympic medal ever since she was six. How many six-year-olds in Singapore dream of that with the intensity that Feng Tianwei did. It has got be be a burning desire because the life of a full time sportsman is a very arduous one.
It takes sacrifice, hard work, discipline, pain, endurance and determination day after day after day. And all of this just to try and reach the pinnacle of the particular sport you're in. It's not a very forgiving job at all. If you're not at the top, you'll never be financially rich and you may never be considered successful either. Unlike doctors, lawyers, teachers, businessmen, you can be average, you don't need to be a specialist and you'll still be able to be able to do quite well financially and you can still be considered successful.
Due to the great physical demands of being a pro-sportsman, injury and stress on the body means that a pro-sportsman's career is often not very long. It depends from sport to sport and in table-tennis, late twenties to early thirties is usually about when they retire from high-level competition. If they don't earn as much as they can, they won't be able to live too comfortably in the future.
Li Jiawei came to Singapore when she was 13 or 14. She grew up here and often talks about that. Yet, so many people refuse to accept her? Why? Frankly, if I were Li Jiawei, I would leave Singapore after I retire from table tennis. For all the years that she's sacrificed and struggled, she's never been able to obtain acceptance. Every turn of the paper mentions the fact that she was born in China. And even after the gigantic effort she put in at the Olympics, she still can't gain acceptance. Why should she stay in a place that will not accept her? Why should she stay in a country that always doubts her? Why should she stay in a land where people who have never met her and who have never once talked to her make cynical and baseless assumptions about what she thinks and feels? I wouldn't and I could never blame her for leaving. Singapore and Singaporeans can be so incredibly ugly and cruel.
I gave up a green card to return to Singapore and for the first time in the 7 years since my return, I question my decision. After reading all this horrible maliciousness being poured out on the 3 women who were merely trying to build a better lives for themselves and their families, who were merely trying to fulfil their dreams and ambitions, I can't help but wonder just what kind of a society I chose to live in. Just what kind of an image are we showing the rest of the world? We seem to relish in our arrogance, our meanness, our intolerance, our lack of generosity all in the name of some ridiculous jingoistic mumbo-jumbo. It doesn't make us more loyal or patriotic to be mean to non-Singapore born citizens, it just makes us look like a bunch of nasty, bitter, whining, shrivelled up raisins.
I love Singapore and I am proud to be Singaporean but today on seeing Li Jiawei's swollen eyes and tear soaked face in the papers, I can't help but feel somewhat ashamed that my fellow countrymen can be so cruel to another fellow countryman. Yes, I consider Li Jiawei my compatriot. I consider her a fellow Singaporean and a fellow human being. I consider Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu, Jing Junhong, Susilo and all the non-Singapore born Singaporeans my fellow countrymen. I salute all who toil for Singapore and all who want to make this place a better place for ALL who choose to live here.
Good job Tao Li for your 5th place finish. Good job to all the table tennis girls, good job Li Jiawei for the brave battles fought in the singles semi-finals and the bronze medal decider. You played so well, you should be proud. =)
P.S. Here's a link... after I wrote my emotional reaction, I read this article which said everything I feel and think and said it much better that I ever could. Here you go, click here.
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