Getting Singapore to be a Sporting Nation

ADJOURNMENT MOTION

The Leader of the House (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Question proposed.

Getting Singapore to be a Sporting Nation

Mr Deputy Speaker: Er Dr Lee Bee Wah.

7.07 pm

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I proceed with my speech, I would like to declare my interest. I am the adviser for Singapore Swimming Association and the past President for Singapore Table Tennis Association.

If I were to ask the question, "Are we a sporting nation?", I am sure some will say yes, some will say no. Yes, because many exercise stations in our residential precincts and many brisk-walk groups. We have Vision 2030, and we have Olympic gold medal and Paralympic gold medals. But many would still say, "No, we have yet to be a sporting nation". Why? There are several reasons. I will give Members four reasons.

First, the episode on "live" telecast of the Olympic Games. We nearly missed the opportunity to witness "live" the historic moment presented by our Joseph Schooling. The Sunday before the start of the Olympics, that is, 31 July, which was six days before the opening ceremony, our Minister reiterated that watching a delayed broadcast would be a different way of celebrating.

Immediately, there was a lot of response on the ground. A lot of discussions in the coffeeshops, friends' gatherings, and a lot of my residents asked me, "Is our Government too calculative?" And they said that we can afford to pay hundreds of millions for the English Premier League, and yet, we cannot afford to pay for a "live" telecast of the Olympics. And I have residents who even suggested, "Why do we not collect $1 from each of us? Six million people, $6 million!"

And for those of you who are sporting fans, you will know it is miles apart – a lot of difference between watching a "live" telecast and a delayed telecast. If you already know the results, the excitement is no longer there. Do we understand sports enough? Is there a lack of sporting culture?

We, as a nation, send athletes to compete in the Olympics were not prepared to fork out money for a "live" telecast. Yet, we proclaim we know the importance and the value of sports in unifying people, in inspiring people, and so on. We must not leave this to a commercial decision. An opportunity to unite the nation should not be left to a commercial decision. I hope that in future, the relevant bodies: the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), Mediacorp, cable television operators and telecommunications companies can pool their resources together and prepare their negotiations far ahead of time and allocate the budget to ensure we are guaranteed a contract to broadcast major sporting events "live", including all major games that our athletes are taking part in.

For a first-world nation, it is almost unthinkable if Singaporeans are denied of this. Some joked that they have to go to neighbouring countries during the Olympics period. We are well-known for planning ahead and I am sure we can do it.

The second reason is National Service (NS) deferment. I had lunch with May and Colin Schooling before May left for Rio. I have known May for a long time. From time to time, she would share with me the challenges and problems that she is facing. During that lunch, she shared with me her No 1 headache at that time, that is, Joseph Schooling's NS deferment. She said she had submitted reports. However, there was no concrete answer. It gave people the impression that our Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) is high-handed, too rigid, and they will tell you the answer when they are ready to give you the answer. And MCCY gave people the impression that either they have no power or are not interested. And some civil servants even think that Olympic medals are not important.

So, our poor Joseph Schooling was under great pressure, not just to prepare for the Olympics, but he had to deal with the problem of whether he needed to come back for NS, after end-August. Luckily, he turned pressure into strength, and the rest is history.

Following his win, there has been an outpouring of support for greater flexibility of NS deferment for local athletes. Evidently, Singaporeans do consider our athletes' abilities to represent our country to be important.

I appreciate that after three years of debate in this House and after many appeals from the parents and the National Sports Associations, MINDEF changed its policy to let Joseph Schooling and Quah Zheng Wen defer their NS till end-August 2016. But still, deferment is ad hoc and only on a case-by-case basis. So, parents are still left unsure if they should support their sons in their desire to pursue their sporting dream or whether they should take the proven route and get back to the academic road.

I think MINDEF and MCCY could have done better in supporting our Olympic-bound athletes. They should work together to come up with a policy for our sportsmen so that it is transparent, and everyone can be clear about what they can expect and what standards they have to achieve in order to pursue their career in the sporting world.

In Korea, all male citizens are required to undergo 21 months of compulsory military service. I was told that Korean athletes representing their country get to decide when they serve their national service, so long as they serve before they turn 30 years old. As in the case of Singapore, the issue is a thorny one. The conscription law in Korea states that those who have contributed significantly to the nation through athletic or artistic skills are exempted from military duties. The only requirement is that they must go through four weeks of combat training. This law currently exempts athletes who win a medal at the Olympics or finish first in the Asian Games.

In Singapore, the number of athletes falling under this group is very small. For the Rio Olympics, it was only Quah Zheng Wen and Joseph Schooling. Can we afford to let them decide their NS deferment? I am sure we can. As Ang Peng Siong mentioned in his recent interview, one would need at least two Olympic cycles or even more in order to realise their Olympic dream. If the athletes, the swimmers, can decide their own NS deferment, it would take away this additional pressure of what if they have to come back to serve their NS. Does it mean that their dream of the Olympics is dashed?

The third reason – more funding for Singapore Sports School. A lot of people know that May and Colin Schooling spent more than $1 million on Joseph Schooling. Not many parents can spend that $1 million. While the spexScholarship supports elite athletes and para-athletes, can the Government do more? Can we further enhance the Sports School or NSAs? Can we set aside more funding so that we can tailor-make programmes for those athletes who show potential? We can send athletes with potential overseas for longer term attachment, for example, one to two years in Bolles School in the United States (US) for swimmers. I was told that it is not so much the curriculum but because, over there, it gives the swimmers a lot more opportunities to compete.

The fourth reason – sports for every student who is keen in sports. When I told my friends that I am going to speak in Parliament on this topic, they tell me that, "Yes. We need to have more opportunities for every student who is keen in sports to play sports in school." I thought this was already being made available. So, I asked the principals in schools. They told me, "Yes. Every student got a chance to play because they can play during recess time." How long is recess time? Thirty minutes. And they have to buy food and then play sports at the same time?

I studied in a school in a neighbouring country. I remember that for primary school, we played every day. Our school only had two table tennis tables, put along the corridor. We have one basketball court which is clay court. And we played after school until it was dark. And in my secondary school, it was better equipped. It had all the sports clubs – badminton club, table tennis club, basketball club, netball club, athletic club. We were free to join any clubs. We can join more than one club. And that is why I could play many different sports, and I represented the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in five games.

The sporting culture should start from young, not about winning inter-school, and providing platforms to all students to learn the sports of their choice, should be part and parcel of their education.

Sports, we all know, unite people across all ages and cultures. In today's context, this unifying factor is very important. We worry about race relations and here is a platform that is available for us to tap to unite the citizens. Sports promote team spirit and imbues camaraderie among the participants. Look at how people from across races come together before the TV screens to watch the Olympics, the soccer matches, and so on. It is so inspiring to see them united and enjoying themselves as they shout themselves hoarse.

I would like to take this chance to congratulate Yip Pin Xiu for her gold medal, and Theresa Goh for her bronze medal and to wish all our Paralympians the best. Their athletic feats show the disabled that anything is possible. At the same time, our support for the Paralympians shows the disabled that they are valued members of our community.

So, while we look into how to improve support for our athletes, I hope any improvements will also apply to para-athletes and that we keep looking for more para-athletes by encouraging disabled people to pursue sports.

In conclusion, there is quite some way to go to being a sporting nation. We have made progress but must not rest on our laurels. There is so much more we can and need to do. Unlike other countries with a much larger pool of talents and a far longer history of sporting achievements, we have to invest more efforts and wisdom in helping Singapore and her athletes pursue greater heights in the sports arena.

More importantly, we must not allow stagnation to erase the hard work that everyone, especially our athletes, have put in. I urge for greater flexibility, empathy and planning to help us keep moving towards our goal of making Singapore a truly sporting nation with a great sporting culture at all levels.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Minister Grace Fu.

7.22 pm

The Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien): Mr Deputy Speaker, indeed, sport has tremendous power to inspire and galvanise us as a nation. Joseph Schooling's win at the Rio Olympics has inspired the entire nation. It showed that a small country like Singapore can dream big and make the dream a reality if we put our hearts and minds to it. We in MCCY are committed to supporting our athletes in achieving their sporting aspirations.

Our sports excellence programme starts with identifying and developing a pipeline of young athletes. The Singapore Sports School, into its 13th year, offers a unique pathway for young athletes by combining quality education with an excellent sports programme to develop student athletes that can represent Singapore.

The Sports School offers disciplined and systematic sports training with quality coaching, complemented by support in nutrition, physical and mental development. A special effort is taken to integrate a rigorous academic programme with the training and competition required for athlete development.

The contribution of the Sports School is clear. Our Sports School students and alumni shone brightly at the SEA Games last year and we are so proud of them. They contributed a total of 32 gold medals at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, nearly 40% of Singapore's total haul of 84.

At the same time, we know that there are many high-performing youth athletes in our mainstream schools. To further strengthen the youth sports excellence ecosystem, a new National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) was set up this year to provide specialised support to our youth athletes nationwide. NYSI works closely with partners in the areas of talent identification and development, youth coaching, sports science and athlete life management.

In 2013, we introduced our latest iteration of the High-Performance Sports (HPS) system. The system offers comprehensive support from financial grants, training and coaching, sports medicine to personal development. We will spend a total of S$60 million over five years. And if we include funding and support given to NSAs and all Team Singapore athletes, we would be investing close to S$90 million per year. Our HPS system is still evolving, and we will continue to improve this as we go along.

The system supports athletes of varying potential and development needs. There are currently over 1,500 carded athletes, including our para-athletes, covering over 40 sports. Through Sport Singapore's (SportSG) carding system, athletes are identified based on their actual achievements and assessed potential. Support programmes are then customised for the individual needs of the athletes to help them achieve their goals. This targeted, systematic and disciplined process ensures that our resources are optimised in our pursuit of sporting excellence.

We also introduced the spexScholarship scheme in 2013 to enable our elite athletes with the potential to excel at the highest level to focus on training full-time. There are 69 spexScholars at present; 14 of them qualified for the Olympics and seven for the Paralympics. Team Singapore athletes have also benefited from the Race to Rio programme since March this year, which provided enhanced support for those seeking to qualify for the Games, and full-time training for those who had qualified. For example, Joseph Schooling had received various spexGrants, and sports science and medicine support, prior to his being awarded the spexScholarship in 2013. He received support, such as training equipment, overseas training camps and competitions, and coaching needs. His University of Texas scholarship imposes conditions on the level of external support he can receive.

The system is reaping benefits. In bowling, for example, Singapore has produced several world champions, such as Shayna Ng, Joey Yeo and New Hui Fen. At this year's Olympics, we witnessed breakthrough performances by Quah Zheng Wen and Saiyidah Aisyah in swimming and rowing respectively. And who can forget Joseph Schooling's and Yip Pin Xiu's record-breaking swims at the Olympics and Paralympics? All our Team Singapore athletes have done us tremendously proud.

I agree with Er Dr Lee that the "live" TV broadcast enabled Singaporeans to come together to rally behind our athletes. Loud cheers erupted throughout the island, in Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates, schools, offices, and other mass gatherings – when Singaporeans dropped whatever they were doing on the morning of 13 August to watch Joseph Schooling's triumphant swim.

Moments like these bind us as one united people and bring us tremendous national pride. The Government is certainly supportive of "live" coverage of our Team Singapore athletes and does provide funding support to Mediacorp. However, we are also mindful of the escalating fees for broadcasting such events. You may have read from the media that Mediacorp paid about US$2.5 million for broadcast rights to the 2012 London Olympics and was quoted almost three times that for the Rio Olympics.

It is, therefore, a sound and rational approach to leave the negotiation of broadcast rights to Mediacorp and the pay TV operators. As in many other countries, our broadcasters can harness the marketing potential of the programme through advertising revenue, subscriptions and sponsorships. I would like to urge businesses and foundations in Singapore and Singaporeans in general to step forward to support the broadcasts. It would be unwise to take the position that we should have "live" telecasts regardless of cost, and for the Government to underwrite any amount demanded by rights owners. This would be a poor position to take, particularly while the rights are being negotiated.

Success in high performance sports is borne from the partnership with many stakeholders and not just the Government alone. Our NSAs and sports clubs play important roles in developing interest in and providing broad-based support for sports. They are also instrumental in developing and grooming competitive athletes at all levels.

Corporates constitute another important set of stakeholders. Corporate sponsorships have made many local sports events possible, such as the OUE Singapore Open for badminton, Mission Foods Nations Cup for netball. Many of our athletes have benefited from the exposure and the opportunity to compete with the best in the field. In time to come, we hope Corporate Singapore can play an even bigger role in the HPS system by directly sponsoring our NSAs or athletes.

Businesses can also provide employment opportunities to our athletes. Our spexBusiness network has 33 businesses offering opportunities to our athletes. More than 80 athletes have benefited from this programme. As career after sports weigh on the minds of athletes and their families, we call on more companies to join us in supporting our athletes.

We note that NS is a concern for some of our athletes. We have been working closely with our NSAs to propose NS deferment for those athletes who require a continuous development pathway and who have consistently demonstrated their sporting potential. MINDEF has granted exceptional sportsmen long-term deferment from NS, on the basis of them meeting sporting goals and agreed performances. And MINDEF has announced that Schooling's deferment has been extended to 2020. Besides long-term deferment, there are other opportunities for servicemen to train while fulfilling their full-time NS commitments, such as through the Singapore Armed Forces or Home Team Sportsmen Scheme.

Our sporting vision goes beyond the success of a select few. We want Singaporeans to enjoy sports regularly, regardless of sporting ability. Apart from health benefits, sports also engender social cohesion. The numbers are encouraging. Our sports participation rate is about 55%, up from 44% in 2011. ActiveSG, our national sports movement, has about 1.1 million members. This year, we also launched Get Active! Singapore, a week-long sporting bash to celebrate National Day as One Team Singapore.

Sir, 2016 has been a wonderful year for sports in Singapore. Our athletes have made their mark on the world stage and inspired Singaporeans back home. Nevertheless, the journey towards fulfilling our sporting vision is a marathon, not a sprint. While the Government will continue to support our athletes, we must not forget the work it takes to groom a Team Singapore athlete – years of training by the committed athlete, supported by a dedicated team of coaches and sports specialists. And at the heart of it all is the special role of family and friends in providing a secure and encouraging environment for our athletes.

We hope that with the support of all stakeholders, we can develop a healthy ecosystem and inspire Singaporeans to Live Better Through Sport.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Er Dr Lee, the debate should last only 30 minutes. But you have got a few minutes left. So, one clarification, please.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: would MCCY work with MINDEF to come up with something that is more transparent so that athletes are very sure whether the NS deferment has to be on a case-by-case basis? For example, if they have already qualified for the Olympics, can we allow them to decide how long they want to defer their NS so long as maybe we fix the age limit? Would MCCY work on that?

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: Indeed, there is a matrix, and the matrix actually tracks the progress of athletes through time and also established milestones. In the case of Schooling, I think whether he medalled with a gold, silver or bronze, he would have gotten a deferment. So, indeed, there is an established matrix and information will be given to the athletes at an appropriate time.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Adjourned accordingly at 7.35 pm.