The Online Citizen, 23 Aug 2008, Anthony YeoQuestions we need to ask ourselves
"In the case of the table tennis players, they were intentionally scouted and enticed to come to Singapore for the expressed purpose of helping us win in competitions - and in this instance to end Singapore’s Olympics medal drought.
In a sense these players from China have no choice but to be made citizens if they wish to represent Singapore. They also come to us with the sole intention of advancing their goal of being recognised sportswomen."
Value
"We need to consider how we could be instilling in the minds of our young that they are not valued as much as foreign talent, as it may take too long to nurture them to high-level performance. Could we unwittingly be communicating that we would prefer to import than to invest money and energy to nurture local potential sportsmen and women?"
Differentiating an immigrant from an import
"Tan Howe Liang migrated to Singapore, not to be a weightlifter or to win Olympics medals but to live and work. He made Singapore his home and became a weightlifter on his own initiative. When he finally made it to the Olympics, he did it with his own resources and when he returned as our hero, there was hardly any fanfare."
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