Parliament votes in favour of amended WP motion on supporting Singapore's athletes

SINGAPORE: Members of Parliament on Thursday (Jul 6) voted in favour of a Workers’ Party motion to support the accomplishments of Singapore’s athletes and para-athletes, but stopped short of agreeing to call on the government to re-evaluate its management of sports.

Beyond supporting Singapore’s athletes, the original motion called on the government to “undertake a thorough evaluation of the areas of improvement in Singapore’s sporting ecosystem” and “commit to realising clear, achievable goals for sporting success over the coming decade”. 

MP Darryl David (PAP-Ang Mo Kio) proposed to amend the motion to reflect that the government would instead “continue its thorough evaluation”. He also proposed changing “clear, achievable goals for sporting success” to “our goals in sports”. 

All MPs from WP and the Progress Singapore Party's Non-Constituency MPs who were present voted against these two amendments. The amendments were passed with a majority.  

The majority of the house then voted in favour of the amended motion, while all MPs from WP and PSP's NCMPs who were present voted against the amended motion.  

In his closing speech, Associate Professor Jamus Lim (WP-Sengkang) said WP could not support Mr David’s amendments in full, though it would be willing to “stand corrected”. 

“While we accept that the government has indicated that they have performed a number of reviews and continues to monitor performance, we’ve not seen the concrete fruits of such thorough evaluations for the sporting ecosystem as a whole,” he added, calling for the government to commit to releasing a report or review documenting this effort.  

The party also did not support the other amendment because it “wiggles out of one of the most important fundamentals for sporting performance” - appropriately defining success, said Assoc Prof Lim.  

“It is important to have clarity on what our goals are, and ideally set up not only eventual but also intermediate targets that we can credibly achieve,” he added.  

“Accepting the amendment also robs us of being able to meet the sort of mass participation goals that we alluded to that are imminently achievable. We also doubt that the government would be comfortable with such ambiguity for other endeavours.”  

Based on Singapore’s income, the country has “unfortunately not only punched way below our weight” in terms of sporting achievements, but has “consistently gotten worse”, said Assoc Prof Lim in his opening speech.  

“What explains our nation’s anomalous outcomes? As it turns out, money alone is not enough. Countries that have prioritised sporting achievement, including at the highest level, know that this prioritisation is what is important,” he added.  

During the five-hour debate, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Eric Chua supported the amended motion, and stressed that regular and consistent reviews are conducted as part of Singapore’s high-performance sports ecosystem.  

“Through our review, we examine what has worked, what has not worked, what we could do differently and chart our future priorities,” he continued.  

“Our goal is to win of course, but we must accurately define what winning is.”  

While Singapore cannot compete directly with countries with large populations, it has also performed well in many sports, including swimming, sailing, table tennis, badminton and silat.  

Recalling a previous conversation with national badminton player Loh Kean Yew about the expectations Singaporeans have for him, Mr Chua called for the country to be more sensitive and supportive.  

“The weight of an entire nation’s expectations was squarely on this young man’s shoulders, and he was fully aware of that. Perhaps overly so,” he added.  

Mr Chua urged Singaporeans to “not forget that it is not all just about medals”.  

“Rather, it is about journeying with our athletes as they work through their daily struggles in realising their maximum potential.”  

FLEXIBILITY FOR ATHLETES  

During parliament, PSP’s NCMP Leong Mun Wai said there can be more flexibility around National Service (NS) obligations, adding that it would make a “great difference” to the sporting careers of male athletes. 

He said that many Singaporeans are “concerned” that many male foreigners are given citizenship without having to serve NS, while Singaporean male sports talents “miss out” on the opportunity to develop their sporting careers because they must serve NS. 

“In the area of sports, PSP supports allowing a small number of our most talented male athletes to receive long deferments for NS, so that they can reach their full athletic potential and maximise the opportunity to bring glory to our nation,” Mr Leong said.  

Policies around these deferments should be determined through a national dialogue on the topic, he said, adding that it would be “timely” to discuss how the criteria for such deferments can support young Singaporean male athletes in achieving sporting success.  

In response to comments about NS deferments, Nominated MP Mark Chay said he believes NS is essential and that every male Singaporean must go through it.  

He added that the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has granted short-term and long-term deferments to allow national athletes to pursue their athletic goals before enlisting. 

He highlighted that MINDEF has met with national sports associations to talk about NS and its schemes to support sportsmen. 

“I believe these schemes are fair and our athletes have been very receptive to the flexibility given to them to train, prepare, and compete.”  

MP Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) highlighted the limited flexibility for student-athletes in mainstream schools, such as fixed timetables.  

Such timetables do not cater specifically to athletes, making it difficult for them to undergo long hours of training and overseas competition, said Mr Giam. 

While some schools allow student-athletes to skip a week of school for international competitions, the time away from lessons “takes a toll” on their studies, he added.  

“With this reality in play, we should not be surprised that we continue to have a narrow pipeline of world-class athletes.” 

Mr Giam added: “Given that many high-performance athletes are of school-going age, if nothing is done to shift the youth sports development paradigm, we will continue to see many budding sports stars eventually fizzle out after they complete secondary school.” 

SUPPORT FOR ATHLETES  

During her speech, MP Poh Li San (PAP-Sembawang) recalled a four-pronged approach she previously recommended to strengthen Singapore’s competitive sports system - focus on a few key sports, search for talents from a young age, nurturing them through training and helping them persevere through challenging periods. 

This will require commitment and continual efforts from both the government and stakeholders, said Ms Poh. 

The government has already invested about S$70 million (US$52 million) annually in the High Performance Sports system, to support the development of national athletes and national sports associations, she noted.  

“These are significant investments to assist our high-performance athletes with conducive training environment, and to provide some financial support for them to train and compete at major competitions,” said Ms Poh. 

Echoing her sentiments, Mr Chua suggested two ways for corporates to help athletes.  

Athletes are supported financially through donations to the One Team Singapore Fund, which supports athletes in enhancing their training environments and in increasing competition opportunities, he noted.  

Corporates can also join the spexBusiness network, which supports current and former TeamSG athletes in pursuing meaningful careers while balancing their sporting commitments, said Mr Chua.

This will help support current and former TeamSG athletes in pursuing meaningful careers while balancing their sporting commitments, he added. 

In his closing speech, Assoc Prof Lim said that while he does not doubt that government support has been instrumental to athletes’ success, he also asked about those who do not find success.

“The examples that (Mr Chua) cites often smell of selection bias and we are left to wonder what could have happened. For our level of income and what we spend, why is it that we underperform as a nation?” he questioned.

Assoc Prof Lim added: “Even as we rightly celebrate the success, let’s not be afraid to accept the reality of how, unlike our successes in other national endeavours… we simply fall short when it comes to sport."