Of the Heroines and a Quitter
Congratulations Yip Ping Xiu and Laurentia Tan!
Singaporeans Yip Ping Xiu and Laurentia Tan quietly clinched medals for the country in the recent Paralympics. There was little or no coverage in the media. Right me if I’m wrong, there was no publicity in the events that they were contesting for until the medals were won. Unlike the Olympics, there was always additional emphasis on the events and interviews with the atheletes.
Unfortunately, this is an international slight. Most if not all countries tend to pay lesser attention to the Paralympics. The event draws significantly lesser sponsors compared to the Olympics and thus has lesser funding. The S$100,000 that Yip Ping Xiu would received for her individual gold medal under the Athlete Achievement Awards (AAA) scheme is a mere 10 per cent of what an able-bodied athlete would receive for an individual Olympic gold under the Multi-million dollar Award Programme (MAP).
The government has recognised their effort and has responded to their achievements by conferring the Meritorious Service Medal to Yip Ping Xiu and the Public Service Medal for Laurentia Tan. Hopefully, this would bring about a more uniform reward systems for all athletes.
Thank you both and the other Paralympics athletes for educating and making Singaporeans more aware of the Paralympics. More information on their individual achievements are available here.
The issue of foreign workers living in estates was not so subtly raised again. TodayOnline ran an article yesterday on how the residents and foreign workers of Jalan Kayu “live side by side through compromise”. Issues such as workers sitting by the road, drinking beer, littering and peeing by the road were raised. Complaints were reduced over the 2 years even though there are now 2 domitories housing 6000 foreign workers. The gist of it? It does seem like there will be a dormitory for foreign worker in Serangoon Gardens after all in spite of the petition.
The man whose signature appears on all AIA’s press release that assured that AIA “has more than sufficient capital and reserves to meet all obligations” in Singapore had left the company with immediate effect on Thursday (18 Sep).
According to the papers, O’Dell had been offered the new post before the crisis begin. According to AIA financial planners, they were told that O’Dell had been ‘proached’ months before. His resignation with immediate effect proved anything but assuring. It successfully sent both its clients and employees into a higher state of panic.
Who said only Singaporeans are quitters? Is this the sort of foreign talent that the government is looking to attract?
For our sake, I sincerely hope otherwise.
Thanks for reading,
the B.
P.S. the Large Hadron Collider is down for 2 months. We have 2 months more to live ;P
P.P.S. Anyone with friends living in Taiwan? Do give them a gentle nudge to tell them that Mark O’Dell now presides over their ManuLife policies.
