COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD

COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD:

(Roles and involvement of MCYS): 2.

Mr Seah Kian Peng asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) if he will outline the roles and involvement of the Ministry vis-a-vis the Singapore Sports Council, Singapore National Olympic Council and the various national sports associations; and (b) given the public interest on the nomination process of the former national table tennis coach for the Coach of the Year Award and comments made by the relevant bodies and persons, what are the learning points from the Ministry's perspective.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Seah's question focuses on the roles of the Ministry, the Singapore National Olympic Council, the national sports associations and the Singapore Sports Council. And there is also a second part on the nomination process for Coach of the Year award.

Let me first deal with the relative roles of these four agencies. The Ministry sets policies for sports in general. In particular, this means we want to encourage wide participation in sports, we want to enable our elite athletes to win national and international glory. We also want to promote sports business.

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) then translates these policies and objectives into programmes and funding, which they then provide to the national sports associations. The national sports associations are in charge of the respective sports on a day-to-day basis. So national sports associations train

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players, appoint coaches, run competitions and prepare players for international events.

The Singapore National Olympic Council is the umbrella organisation which represents all the national sports associations. The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) promotes the fundamental values of Olympicism and sports. It is, in particular, tasked with selecting athletes for international events. It is also in charge of deciding on national awards. One such national award is the Coach of the Year award which Mr Seah has referred to. I want to emphasise that the Ministry and the SSC are not involved in the routine operations and programmes of both the SNOC as well as the national sports associations. The SNOC sets the rules and the selection criteria for such awards. The national sports associations would then take these rules and criteria, assess their own stable of coaches and players, decide which ones qualify, and then after considering all relevant factors, nominate them for consideration by the SNOC. The SNOC would then look at all the nominations which have been submitted and make its own determination as to who deserves to be recognised and who does not qualify at that point in time.

It is quite unfortunate this year that the non-nomination of the former national table tennis coach has descended into a rather unseemly public dispute between the coach on one hand and the association on the other. I would say that at this point in time, both parties are still trying to mediate and as mediation is in progress, I would refrain from passing comments or making any judgements. I would, however, urge both parties to aim for a dignified and fair outcome to this matter.

The sporting analogy which I would use is tennis. This is a disputed line call and it is important that we do not become

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so distracted or so upset by a disputed line call that we end up losing the match.

Mr Seah Kian Peng: I thank the Minister for his answers. I know that within the Ministry sports is identified as a good way of bonding communities together and I fully agree with that. But as we have seen, if not handled properly, it could have the opposite effect. Given that the MCYS does give the SSC and many national sports associations (NSAs) significant levels of funding, I would urge the Ministry or SSC to play a more active role in managing the affairs of some of these sports associations where it feels there is a need to. My second supplementary question concerns conflict-resolution. I recognise and know that disputes and conflicts will arise from time to time. I wonder whether SSC can play a more constructive role under such circumstances. They could come in to mediate if it is obvious that amongst the parties involved, they are unable to find a resolution. I cannot but wonder –

Mr Speaker: Mr Seah, your question is too long.

Mr Seah Kian Peng: I will move on to my third supplementary question. I believe the Minister would have read some of the comments made even in China. I read many of them which passed some comments about Singaporeans and Singapore in general, which I find quite damaging and disturbing. I would like the Minister's view on this.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I think we all agree that sports does have a role in our national psyche and certainly nothing brings us together as much and as quickly and as emotionally as the sports field. These recurrent disputes – there is a silver lining to them. The fact that people can be bothered, that people are worked up, shows that people are paying interest and

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they care. And that reflects that the profile for sports in Singapore has been raised and there is greater interest. So that is not such a bad thing. It would be much worse if nobody even cared about this award, it did not even become an issue and it was irrelevant. So that is the first point.

The second point is that whilst we provide funding to the NSAs, we have, as a matter of discipline, learned not to micro manage, and not to get involved with the details of operation and, in fact, with the details of selection. Because the Ministry and SSC are not in the best position to do so. These are decisions best made on the ground by officials, coaches, players and by the people who constitute the sports fraternity for each relevant sport. So I am very hesitant to say that we should go in and second guess or countermand decisions. What the Ministry and SSC is most concerned with is to make sure that there is good governance. People are elected or selected or appointed to these governing boards and selection committees, that there is due process and that there is a system in which all relevant factors are considered. So long as that is in place, we should not micro-manage and interfere.

On the second point of conflict resolution, we recognise that. In fact, internationally, sports has become a fertile area for litigation as well. My Senior Parliamentary Secretary work very hard to establish a conflict-resolution system in the sports scene in Singapore. For instance, in this particular case, it is the Singapore Mediation Centre which will play a role if need be, if we need to go for formal mediation. So rest assured that we do, in all circumstances, always prefer a mediated outcome rather than a slug fest and only one person walks out of the ring.

On the third point with respect to comments which Mr Seah has read

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overseas – I think comments on the new media, both locally and internationally, have to be taken in proper perspective. We should not over react nor should we raise the level of emotions and generate more heat. So I am not inclined to respond to those comments at this point in time. Right now, suffice to say, we would still encourage everyone, "let us arrive at a fair and dignified outcome, and let us learn to move on".

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.