Crap. I forgot to ask for no onion for Subway! Eeks.
I can't believe I haven't had Subway for a month.

I suddenly felt a strong urge to blog after a discussion with Shiyan after Chinese Migration lecture on 新移民. The discussion left me rather agitated, angry, sad, and plain dissatisfied.

Singapore seems so into making Singapore the country successful that it no longer mattered who is behind that success. Be it in sports [giving sportsmen who can make Singapore a champion in yet another arena], economy and business [placing expatriates at top management positions cuz they have greater intelligence, capability and network], education [employing China-Chinese teachers to teach our dear little potatoes, provided the latter can even understand, as well as bringing in foreign research talents]; the list goes on [cuz I can't come up with anymore but I'm sure more exist].

What does it mean when Singapore makes it to the top? That Singapore can do it? That Singaporeans can't? That those who can do it can be Singaporean? That Singapore has more than enough $$$, not to buy the glory, but to buy those who can help us attain glory?

Back to the same old question I shall not assume the answer to: are foreign sports talents playing for us cuz they feel that they are Singaporeans, or are they Singaporeans cuz they play for us and earn for us a rare gold for our medal tally [and an extra million dollars for their personal account]?

Take Chinese players for example. There's no doubt that they are good. But "good" is simply not enough where they come from, cuz "good" is abundant; you have to be "best". Fair enough, they come to Singapore in search of a place where they can shine and be fairly honoured for their talent. They can be the "best" here. But what happens to our "good" who could have been "best"? They can only settle for being "better" than the rest.

There's competition. We should motivate ourselves to work harder. If they can do it, so can we! So what if they have a headstart? We can do an Alonso! It's not that easy. Fine, I'm a sore loser. My Chinese isn't that great, I know. But in SC at least, I was one of the better ones, but never the best. I never compared myself with the Chinese students, and I was happy where I was. But when you are where the naturally stronger party makes up the majority, there is no longer any point in ignoring their existence and excellence. And I just can't seem to catch up. There are Singaporeans who do as well, if not better, but the proportion is still apparent. Fine! I am simply a sore loser who is dissatisfied about how I never ever managed to climb up.

I used to tell my friends how I want my Chinese to be better than my English, but not my English to be worse than my Chinese. My English isn't good, and my Chinese has always been better than my English. My Chinese isn't good enough, which might imply that my English totally sux. I end up being looked down by both the Chinese-rooted potatoes and the China Chinese, for my comparative incapability in English and Chinese respectively. The Chinese-rooted potatoes think that just cuz I'm cheena, my English totally cannot make it. Yes, I can't apply English in such a sophisticated way that you can, but I can handle basic communication in English. The China Chinese thinks that just cuz I'm Singaporean or for whatever reasons, my Chinese can never be anywhere as good as them and it is unfathomable how I can make it when they cannot. I can't understand nor use profound Chinese, but neither can the majority of the people. Be audience-centered, will you? Ok, sometimes I do over-react to such stuff, but slight implications have enough significance to me. Double discrimination [I think it's not an appropriate word, but I can't think of anything else - my English is not good] is not good. At most, the potatoes are labelled "bad Chinese", and the Chinese is stereotyped for "bad English". And that's not true. Some supposed potatoes are not that starchy after all; they just favour English over Chinese; there are also China Chinese like Meicen from my Sec 4 class who can be really good in English. 我两头不着岸，但我至少看得到两头岸。

As you can see, I am strongly influence by personal bias. No offense meant to anyone.

Then again, seriously, what happens to: The process is more important than the results? Singapore is obviously not interested in the process. Success is all that matters. Who cares who's behind the success as long as Singapore is honoured for that success? We should be sorry since Singapore is taking credit for success not entirely created by us, and be grateful to those who did it for us. Wouldn't you rather watch and support wholeheartedly as Singapore, as represented by Singaporeans, slowly climb up the ladder to success, instead of seeing the name Singapore leap to success with no idea how we did it? Did "we" even do it? Instead of giving a million dollars to foreign talents who can get the gold medal for Singapore, why not use that money to develop local talents?

Don't give the man the fish, teach him how to fish. Don't use the money to buy the fish, use the money to grow your own fish. The natural reproductive cycle of the fish goes on and on, the money can run out [although I hope it never will].

Another question I was wondering: there is some sort of superiority associated with foreign talents - is that self-imposed or imposed on them by us cuz we just feel inferior to them?

。尋找中@12:53