Debated in Parliament on 6 Feb 2013.
Asst Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth since the inception of the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme (a) how many athletes have been granted citizenship annually; (b) how many athletes have given up Singapore citizenship and their reasons for doing so; (c) what is the average length of the athletes' stay in Singapore before the grant of citizenship; and (d) what is being done by the Singapore Sports Council
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and the national sports associations to ensure that such athletes are better integrated into Singapore society.
Mdm Speaker, the objective of the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) Scheme is to raise the standard of play and to augment local sports talent.
A total of 64 athletes has been granted Singapore Citizenship since the FST Scheme began in 1996. Over the last five years, 10 FSTs were granted Singapore Citizenship. These athletes lived in Singapore for an average period of two years and 10 months before they were granted Singapore Citizenship.
Of the 64 foreign athletes granted Singapore Citizenship, four have since renounced their Singapore Citizenship. Two were footballers, who felt that there were more playing opportunities in their place of birth; one was a marathoner, who decided to settle back in her native country after retirement; and one was a young basketball player, who felt she could not adapt to the Singapore lifestyle.
National Sports Associations (NSAs) that wish to bring in FSTs are required to put in place integration programmes to assimilate FSTs into Singapore society. Athletes attend National Day events, visit schools and perform community service. They are also assigned local mentors to facilitate their integration, and undergo English lessons to raise their language proficiency and ability to communicate with Singaporeans. The Singapore Sports Council will continue to work with the NSAs to improve their integration programmes.
Mdm Speaker, I thank the Acting Minister for his reply. I would like to ask the Acting Minister what is his Ministry's assessment of the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. As someone who has had the privilege of being the team manager for water polo in the 2002 Pusan Asian Games, and the manager for the swimming team in the 2004 Olympics, and looking at the sports scene, it would seem as though the Singaporean public has not quite come to terms with the sporting success that has been achieved by these new citizens. I would like to ask the Minister how important is sporting success to Singapore, given that the public, since 1996, has not warmed up, in my view, to the idea of sporting success by these new citizens.
I understand where the Member is coming from and reflecting the concerns that some Singaporeans have surfaced as well. I would
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say you do see success stories of foreign sports talents who have integrated very well. When our Lions won the Suzuki Cup, for example, they won it with people like Alexander Duric on the team. He is embraced by Singaporeans as part of the team, very much so. We can make it work. The sports talents who come in do add something to raise sports excellence. They do inspire young Singaporeans because they come in, they contribute, whether as athletes or as professional coaches. They do contribute something to our local sports teams. Doing this does not mean we neglect talent development of young Singaporeans. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, we have to do more to invest in training and in developing our athletes, our own young Singaporeans, which we are doing.
I think if we do that – focus on talent development for our own Singaporeans through the Sports School, through various programmes that we have, working with the NSAs – and at the same time, make use of the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in a judicious manner – identifying the talents we can help and augment what we have, whether they are athletes or coaches, do as much as we can to integrate them well in Singapore – I think we would be able to continue to develop our sports sector even further.
Order. End of Question Time.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answer to Question No 17 on the Order Paper is reproduced in the Appendix. Question No 16 has been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 7 February 2013.]
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