Politics
Growing restiveness
With the changing voter, the ping pong saga revisits the question: How long can the PAP carry on selecting MPs from elites with little political acumen or sensitivity and not pay a price. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Aug 30, 2008

IN SINGAPORE today where diversity is growing and young Singaporeans are becoming more opinionated, almost everything touches on politics, including table tennis.

It is the sign of the times. An educated post-war generation is slowly taking over that is better informed, helped by the powerful reach of the Internet.

More than ever, Singaporeans are speaking out their minds on many subjects – sometimes vociferously – and shedding the reticence of their parents.

Even the Republic’s first medal win in an Olympic Games in 48 years has produced a heated controversy that is rubbing off badly on the government.

Singapore’s three women table tennis players, all naturalised, China-born citizens, lost to the Chinese in the finals in Beijing to win the team silver medal. But the fourth player, who is ranked 12th in the world for men, got the short end of the stick when it came to support and attention.

While the attention of the team was riveted on the medal-winning women players, Singapore’s sole men’s representative, Gao Ning, went into battle without the support of a coach.

The idea of a coach-less competitor in an Olympic tournament is inconceivable. Gao went down to a shocking 4-0 defeat to an unfancied player from Croatia. Alone, he wept afterwards.

The fiasco started when a livid People’s Action Party MP chastised and sacked the team manager over national television without holding an inquiry.

She not only fired the manager, Anthony Lee, without telling him but also hinted that the future status of the popular head coach was being considered.

Many Singaporeans reacted angrily while players were upset – not by the idea of disciplining wrongdoers – but by the summary, arrogant way it was done.

The MP, Lee Bee Wah, who hails from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s group constituency, was president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association, a post she assumed only a month earlier.

The mistake in Beijing, said Lee, a Malaysian-born engineer, required accountability of the officials.

The issue attracted a deluge of letters – both on and offline – mostly condemning Lee’s “high-handedness”. Some Singaporeans, however, praised her for her speedy response to what was obviously a terrible dereliction of duty by officials or coaches.

Such debates are normally confined to the English-speaking world, but the ping-pong saga is an exception.

The game is widely played and loved by the Chinese-educated, so the arguments were not just an Internet phenomenon. It spread through the heartland coffee shops.

The non-English heartland ripple worries the ruling party since it still holds the majority of PAP supporters. The conflict may even affect PM Lee’s political fortunes.

Lee is one of six Members of Parliament in the Prime Minister’s Ang Mo Kio group constituency.

Unless the conflict is resolved and tempers cool down, its overall vote can be dragged down in the 2011 election.

“ I’m bruised,” Lee admitted but insisted she did no wrong.

Her many detractors think differently, with some calling on her to resign as president of the table tennis body to take responsibility.

“She should have waited for the team to return and carry out a proper investigation before taking action,” said a more polite critic.

Other criticisms are stronger. “Her behaviour was a typical PAP representative – elitist, arrogant, overbearing.

“ Only a month into the job and knowing nothing about the sport, she acted as though she knew everything by firing people,” one fan said.

In a move to control damage, the Sports Minister promised a full review of the episode.

“I am very concerned with the way it is spinning out of control because I don’t want a situation where people say things or do things which destroy relationships,” he said with a hint of criticism of Lee.

Having a second controversial MP in his constituency is something the Prime Minister doesn’t need.

Another member, Wee Siew Kim found himself in the centre of a storm when his daughter, Shu Min posted elitist views that supported the principle of the survival of the fittest. Singaporeans who fail to make it could only blame themselves, she added.

The father criticised her strong language but supported the message in principle.

These controversies could drag down the vote for Lee.

In the 2006 election, a team of unknown young candidates from Workers Party shocked the PAP by polling 33.86% of the votes.

It has also raised questions about the suitability of selecting scholars with no political acumen or articulation skills to stand in elections.

The Olympics ping-pong success also produced another controversy: should Singapore resort to the use of foreign talent to win medals.

While the win has stirred a general sense of pride in this migrant society, whose people’s forefathers had also settled here from abroad, it was not shared by a large minority.

“They were not true Singaporeans. It was like a China ‘A’ team versus China ‘B’ team,” said a fan.

The resentment partly reflects the public unease over the large influx of foreigners into the city out of fear of losing jobs to them.

The increasing diversity in this land, marked by people speaking out more often, is slowly changing things.

For one thing, the consensus society that Lee Kuan Yew had long worked to establish is fast fading.

“Is this good or bad?” Some are fearful it will bring chaos, while others cheer diversity as bringing new hope.

(This was published in The Star, Malaysia on Aug 30, 2008)