SPORTS DEVELOPMENT IN SINGAPORE

4.54 pm

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Mr Speaker, Sir, one of the important recommendations of the Report of the Committee on Sporting Singapore (CoSS) was that we should aim for high-performance sporting achievements. The successful pursuit of excellence in sports manifested by victories in international competitions enhances our national pride and our international standing. This represented a marked shift from just providing for sports for all.

Sir, success in sports has that magic effect of strengthening community bonds. I remember in the 1970s and 1980s, when we played in the Malaysia Cup, regardless of race, language or religion, everyone cheered as a Singaporean. Chinese, Malays and Indians sat and cheered together, rain or shine, each time the national team played. And I remember well the Kallang Roar, which was heard loudest way up in Shah Alam, when we last won the Cup in 1994. We did not need any Inter-Racial Confidence Circle then to bring us together. I remember that when someone shouted "referee kayu" or "kelong", all of us knew what it meant and we all shouted in unison. Such was the nationalistic fervour and the powerful bind that pulled us together every time we tasted success and glory.

The Government has given its support to the recommendations of the Committee, 40 in all, with a generous grant of $500 million under the Athletes Career and Training (ACT) scheme, which will go some way in helping to make a quantum leap in sports development. The CoSS' target is to make Singapore one of the top 10 sporting nations in Asia by the year 2010. The question I wish to pose now is: can we get there? Can we produce champions who can become our sports heroes and icons, people who can instill a national pride in us and enhance our international prestige? In other words, can we win?

Our recent record of achievements has not been encouraging. Our best performance in the Southeast Asian Games was way back in 1983 when we won 50 gold medals when the Games were held in Singapore, finishing fourth out of nine countries, and even edging out Malaysia. In the last SEA Games, we won only 22 gold medals, finishing sixth out of 10 countries, ahead only of lightweights like Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei. Compare this with Malaysia's 111 golds, Thailand's 103, Indonesia's 72, Vietnam's 33 and the Philippines' 30. And that is only the Southeast Asian Games.

Take football as another example. In 1998, Singapore was ranked 94th in the world and 12th in Asia. Today, we have slipped to 115th in the world and 22nd in Asia. Goal 2010, getting into the finals of the World Cup, is, at best, a dream.

We have not had much to boast of lately. In the 1950s, we had household names like Wong Peng Soon in badminton. In 1960, Tan Howe Liang became our only Olympic hero when he won a silver medal for weightlifting. Over the years, we had other notables like Junie Sng, Ang Peng Siong and Joscelin Yeo. We were not exactly deprived, but sports heroes have been few and far in between.

An oft-heard excuse for not producing champions is that we are a small nation and, as our population is small, we do not have the large base from which to tap sporting talent. This cannot be further from the truth. India, with a population of one billion people, is not exactly known for sporting achievements, except maybe for cricket. And, indeed, Ireland, a country with a population comparable to that of Singapore, can produce a team for this year's World Cup. So, too, Denmark.

How can we produce champions? I do not want to repeat what is stated in the Report of the CoSS, but I wish to make a few points. First of all, we need to develop a sports culture in Singapore. This is a point which was highlighted in the report. It seems to be the starting point. Australia is a sports power because, amongst many other factors, its people are just crazy about sports. We, therefore, need to raise the people's interest and awareness in sports. In turn, sports needs a high profile in the country. We need participants, but we also need spectators who talk sports, watch sports and cheer for sports.

Secondly, we need to identify talent early. Tiger Woods became the champion he is today because he started hitting around with a golf club at the age of three. South Korean woman golfer, Park Se Ri, also started playing the game when she was at a tender age, at around five or six. I am not suggesting that we start arming our little toddlers with golf clubs or badminton rackets, but an early identification programme of sporting talent, beginning with our primary schools, can be a starting point.

We can import foreign talent as a short cut. People like Jing Jun Hong and Li Jia Wei and, now new citizens, like Li Li and Jiang Yan Mei, have done a lot for us. And they serve as good role models for others. But they cannot evoke the same kind of passion as home-grown talents like Wong Peng Soon, Tan Howe Liang or Ang Peng Siong. We need to start them young, real young.

Sir, I have heard that some schools have even dropped games like soccer and hockey from their CCA. Even Siglap Secondary School, I read recently, is a school known for producing top athletes in the past, most noticeably, Chee Swee Lee who won our last athletic gold in the Asian Games in Tehran in 1974. The school had decided to drop its annual sports day, citing practical constraints for this decision. This school, which was once a track and field power base in the 1960s and 1970s, will now no longer be able to produce national champions. Contrast this with what is happening in Malaysia. There, the Ministry of Education has embarked on a programme to produce world-class sports stars by getting primary school students to be active in sports. It has realised that at the secondary level, it is too late to develop true sports potential. It has to start in primary school to ensure that a continuous stream of talent can be produced and nurtured. The overall aim, in its own words, is for the country to be able to produce its own David Beckham and Tiger Woods.

Sir, I know we have a sports talent identification programme, but we must ensure that talent is spotted very early and not too late. The establishment of the sports school in 2004 to provide for students with the ability to pursue excellence in sports and academic studies is very encouraging. It will be headed by a person who is well-regarded. But I heard from the grape vine that one of the first things this gentleman will be doing when the school opens is to retire, as by then, he would have reached retirement age. I am a bit worried about this.

Along with this early identification of talent must be a competitive spirit. Sports is all about competition. It means not being afraid to beat the other guy in order to excel and win. It is heartening for me to read that the old boys of Raffles Institution are not happy that they have lost the school's rugby championship title to ACS for many years. They have gotten together to raise $1 million to help their Alma Mater regain the title. This is the kind of fighting spirit I like to see, people rallying behind to support their favourite team, and the team fighting all the way to win.

I remember when I was a student, my school, Anglo-Chinese School and a few others like RI and Chinese High, were always fighting it out annually to be the top school in athletics. ACS was, of course, the undisputed swimming champion for many years. Dr Tan Cheng Bock told me recently that ACS always beat RI in swimming was because the RI had swimmers like Mr Goh Chok Tong! Sir, I would like to add that the reason ACS was strong in swimming was because they had swimmers like Mr Chiam See Tong. Luckily, this is probably the only thing that Mr Chiam can ever beat the PAP in. But such was the spirit of competition in those days, both with competitors and the spectators.

To get to the top, we need money, which is what this speech is all about. The Government has been very generous with its $500 million grant, but it might not be enough to produce sports stars. As we have heard earlier from the Minister, the $500 million is spread over three things: sports excellence, sports for all and sports industry. So, sports excellence is not going to be getting very much. Even some of the National Sports Associations have told me that they do not feel the effects of the $500 million trickling down to them. The operating expenditure of the Sports Council has also been reduced: $45 million in 2001, $39 million this year. Even this year's reduction represents a re-allocation of funds to the sports and youth programme under CoSS. It is still transferring from one pocket to another.

To put it in another perspective for Members. David Beckham, we all know who he is. He is paid $1 million a month and there are 22 others like him in the team. They are probably paid less, but they are just one such team out of many other teams in the football league in England. The ACT grant can help push towards sports excellence. But I think we need more to make a quantum leap and sustain it over a long period. It takes more than five years if we want to have a constant stream of stars. The report of CoSS states that it takes 8-12 years to have an athlete of international standard. Sports excellence must therefore be assured of a constant stream of funds. But where do we get the money? I hope the Minister for Finance does not see this as an opportunity to further increase GST.

I would like to make a suggestion, ie, it is time for us to revisit Singapore Pools. Singapore Pools, if Members recall, was formed in 1968 to legalise forms of gambling. It ran the first Toto and later on, the Singapore Big Sweep, 4D and now sports betting. It was clearly stated then that its net proceeds would go towards the building of the Kallang Sports Complex, which would include the National Stadium and other sports facilities. If we further recall, the Big Sweep tickets even carried a picture of the National Stadium for a long time. To cut a long story short, we built our National Stadium with funds from Singapore Pools by early 1973. In 1980, Singapore Pools was no longer a company owned by the Ministry of Finance. It became a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

Sir, Pools' earnings are huge. Last year, it made $114 million before tax. Singapore Pools is one of the finest corporate citizens in Singapore. It gives generously to sports, charities, the arts, even funding the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. I applaud its generous contributions to many worthy causes. I know that Singapore Pools has provided the large part of the $500 million ACT grant. But like many, I believe that Pools can do more. Perhaps it is time now for the Government to reconsider Pools' original mission of a direct link between its earnings and the promotion of sports, if we are to find the large funds to help us achieve sports excellence. With its large earning capacity, Singapore Pools can be the long-term provider of large funds to sports in Singapore.

To be fair, Sir, to do this, if we want more money from Pools, I am sure Singapore Pools will want more accountability. As a benefactor, it would want to know how well the money is spent and what results are produced. We need to have a kind of accountability.

Sir, in conclusion, we need to build sports heroes. There was a time when the name of Fandi Ahmad was on the lips of everyone in Singapore, young and old. Everyone probably knew him better than they knew who their MP was. I am not particularly worried about this. Fandi was not world-class, but he was our best of that time. He was a rallying point for the people, an icon and a role model. I hope that one day we will be able to produce another Fandi who can evoke the same passion and nationalistic pride in us, but one with the class of Beckham or Ronaldo.

Assoc. Prof. Yaacob Ibrahim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank Mr Tan Soo Khoon for his kind words regarding sports development in Singapore. Personally, I do not have anything to disagree with him on the points that he has raised. With regard to how Pools should change, I suppose that is a matter that is best left to the Ministry of Finance and Temasek Holdings, and not for the Ministry of Community Development and Sports to decide. Let me clarify two things first.

In his speech, he mentioned twice that the $500 million is for the ACT scheme. The $500 million is the budget for the Committee of Sporting Singapore (CoSS). ACT is just one part of the programme under CoSS. Secondly, he mentioned that the principal of the Singapore Sports School, Mr Moo, will be retiring soon. From what I have been told, he is less than 55 years of age. So he is definitely not retiring as yet. That is why we recruited him for the sports school because we know that he will be able to lead the school towards what we want to achieve.

Sir, I certainly do not disagree with everything that Mr Tan has mentioned - we need to build sports heroes, we need to spend a bit more. The $500 million that has been allocated by the Government and Singapore Pools is actually towards that end. The three pillars that I mentioned earlier - sports excellence, sports for all, sports industry - will ultimately build towards the kind of excellence that we want. I think we have to take the approach of building up the base, as he has rightly mentioned, and that we need to build a sports culture. We are trying to increase the sports participation rate towards 50% by 2005. We will try as much as possible to encourage as many people as possible to take up sports. We certainly do not disagree with Mr Tan's point about getting the schools involved. I am not quite familiar with some of the schools' programmes, but I do know, for example, schools, like Saint Andrew's Junior School, have a very intense programme in rugby where some of the kids who graduate, can go on to Saint Andrew's Secondary School so that they can continue with their passion in rugby.

The Singapore Sports School will therefore feed off some of the primary schools which are involved in some of the sports programmes that they have undertaken. We hope to be able to attract swimmers from the feeder schools that have gone to ACS. They might consider going to the sports school where intense training will be undertaken for their passion for swimming and for other sports that we have identified as important in order to build sports excellence.

Secondly, in terms of building up sports excellence, we are revamping the National Sports Associations (NSAs). Mr Tan's feedback that some NSAs have told him that they have not seen the effect of the $500 million is because we have to be very careful on how we spend this money. As Mr Tan has mentioned, accountability is very important. What we have done is to make sure that we have a system in place. We have recently launched a system to evaluate the NSAs and classify the sports according to core, merits and others. This would allow them to receive different funding levels. The system is transparent. It will allow them to evaluate where they are in terms of the ranking system, and what more do they need to do in order to improve. In all of our discussions with the NSAs, we make it clear that governance is important, and how they must manage the sporting fraternity. Secondly, we also talk about developmental programmes - what are the things that they should do in order to develop the athletes under their charge.

I mentioned earlier in the CoS debate about programmes for youth development, which the NSAs are supposed to undertake. In this regard, I would like to add that NSAs are also working with some of our CDCs to ensure that we start young. When I was the Mayor of Central Singapore, we started a football league for young kids. We worked through the FAS to get support from Home United, which is located within Central Singapore. The programme is well-received by my residents at that time and we have, since then, started a second centre in Bishan Stadium. The first centre was at Beatty Secondary School. There are efforts along the way, be it directly through the schools or in collaboration with the schools, with the CDCs and the NSAs to encourage more people to take up sports of their interest. I understand that Southeast CDC has also been working with Geylang United to bring sports to the heartlands, especially soccer because there is a lot of interest, and to start young.

The third pillar is the sports industry. I agree with Mr Tan that we need the base, and people who are prepared to pay to watch and then to support. Like Mr Tan, I grew up with the Kallang Stadium. I was part of the Kallang roar. I remember those matches. I think it is very good for us to be able to achieve that sort of support. Earlier this year, we had the Singapore Rugby 7. Mr Speaker himself was the Guest of Honour. I was there in my capacity as Sports Minister. The atmosphere was fantastic. There was a lot of support. There were a lot of expatriate community members because they have a passion for rugby. I suspect beer supplies went up over that weekend, because there was a lot of involvement by the community for that particular event. The sporting spirit was indeed very remarkable because, at the end of the day, even though they may be English or other supporters, but when there was a game between Fiji and Samoa, they always supported the underdog, and cheered the underdog on. That was the kind of spirit that I saw, and I think most of us in the sporting fraternity will agree that we want to achieve that kind of level of participation.

I do not have anything else to add other than the fact that I agree with him on the kind of fighting spirit that we see now of the old Rafflesians in order to lead the revival of the rugby team in Raffles. My brother was a rugby player from RI. He is also very disappointed. I am sure Mr Zainul, who was his contemporary in RI, is also disappointed. Something needs to be done. We applaud such spirit. Where possible, SSC will come in and help the schools, as we have done. As I mentioned earlier in my reply, we are working with schools in order for schools to encourage those who are normally not keen in taking up sporting activities to engage. These are not competitive sports, but it allows them to participate in a sport of their interest. Developing that base is very important. It is a pyramid. We develop the base and the industry, so that we can get people to participate. As I have mentioned earlier, we are looking into redeveloping the Kallang Stadium, to revamp it into something which is new, not like the old stadium, something that can promote a lifestyle and attract people there throughout the year.

Finally, Sir, in terms of the pyramid at the top, we have, as he has mentioned, the athlete programme, the ACT, to help some of our top athletes. We give them support. Some of them have been sent overseas. I know the recent winner, Sports Girl of the Year, is now in California, undergoing intensive swimming programme while pursuing her studies. These are efforts that we have put in place. Whether we will need more money or not the $500 million is there. We have only spent about $35 million. We have just started, so we have to be very careful. At the end of five years, we have to go back to Government if we need more, I suppose. But the $500 million does not include the money that we will need in order to redevelop the Kallang Sports Stadium. For the moment, our assessment is that $500 million will be sufficient for the next five years for us to lay some of these foundations. Beyond that, we will probably have to review, and go back to Government for the funds.