SEA Games athletes and officials observed a minute of silence at all competition events on Monday (Jun 8), a day of national remembrance for victims of last week’s Sabah earthquake. At least 19 people died in the disaster, eight of them from Singapore.
#SabahQuake: A minute of silence is observed before tonight’s SEA GAMES 2015 swimming final. (Video: Jack Board) cna.asia/sabahquake
Singapore’s footballers wore their hearts on their sleeves for Tanjong Katong Primary School, which lost six students and a teacher to the quake, and still has one student and teacher missing. The Young Lions wore t-shirts that had “We are with you TKPS” emblazoned on them while warming up for their match against Cambodia.
Singapore footballers warming up before their match against Cambodia. (Photos: Ngau Kai Yan)
Swimming champion Joseph Schooling also dedicated his wins to the students from Tanjong Katong Primary School after taking gold for the men’s 50m Freestyle and 200m Butterfly finals on Monday.
(Photo: Jack Board)
The Games organisers said in a statement they are deeply saddened by the earthquake in Sabah. They reminded the sporting community to unite amid the tragedy even as Singapore continues with the Games. They also urged participants and officials to keep praying for those still missing.
Sharon Au made an inexcusable mistake yesterday with her racist remarks. If it was a junior host/comedian, one could perhaps understand the mistake (though it still cannot be excused), but for someone as experienced as her, it is neither understandable nor acceptable. Truth be told, Indians (and other minorities) go through such situations on an almost daily basis.
For me personally, it is most disappointing when religious teachers and people who are called ‘Ustaz’ make such comments in mosques, under the excuse ‘oh, it’s just a joke’. Racism persists because we allow it to: i strongly believe we should call these people out whenever they make such stupid ‘jokes’ (yes, i say these are stupid, because an intelligent person usually does need to resort to racism to get a laugh from his/audience). Do not let them get away with it.
At the same time, Sharon has apologized unequivocally, and we should be forgiving. We should reserve harshest treatment for the recalcitrants, who perennially and unapologetically make racist comments despite being advised not to so. Many bigger names than her have made racist comments – including PAP Members of Parliament – and then used the excuses of ‘I was misquoted’, ‘You do not have a sense of humour’, ‘My words were taken out of context’, and so on, to
justify their chauvinism.
Hopefully, incidents like this remind Singaporeans not to delude themselves into thinking that racism is something ‘that happens in other countries’, and that majority privilege does not exist.
I don’t know Sharon Au as a friend. But I have met her before, and I remember that we were both enthusing about how much we loved Haresh Sharma’s plays. (Au declared he was her favourite Singaporean playwright.)
I actually don’t like it when racial discourses are framed in terms of ‘sensitivity’, because the aggrieved parties–often minorities–are then cast as humourless and oversensitive. And that’s really quite wrong, because God knows how minorities have often used laughter to deal with…all the stuff we have to deal with! I’d much rather such comments be flagged as ‘inappropriate’ rather than ‘insensitive’. This is because the discourse on sensitivity vests all the authority in the aggrieved party to define where the line of offence lies and when it has been crossed–unfortunately breeding resentment. But when we describe something as ‘inappropriate’ there is a sense that a whole community (of Singaporeans) takes responsibility for defining what should be the norms in our multicultural society.
So when Au imitated an Indian accent when she spoke to an Indian member of the audience, was she being ‘insensitive’? Certainly it’s ‘lame’, ‘off-colour’ and even a little ‘tone-deaf’. It could have been funny in a situation, for example, if the girl had a chance to try on a Chinese accent (there’s such a thing, and it has given us choice phrases like ‘SQ me’ and ‘solly solly’ and ‘probrem sums’) as a way of getting back at Au. And this is what I believe happens when friends interact with each other. A close friendship gives you license to poke fun at each other–though you always take cues from the other person, who’ll lead with self-deprecating remarks: “Sorry, I’m very Chinese, I must insist the taxi driver give me my 5 cents change”; “Eh, I bring shame to the Malays lah, I really cannot play soccer”; “I’m very Indian, I cannot wear all this monochrome stuff, I must have at least three colours on me.”
I think as a very experienced host, Au’s instinct is always to establish rapport with the audience member. But I think she flubbed–and I truly think it is an honest mistake–because she might have assumed that it is the ability to make these racial comments that establishes rapport. This is getting it backwards: you build the rapport first, you gain the other person’s trust, before you get permission to say such things (and you should be able to take as good as you give). I think at the spur of the moment, Au might have looked at that audience member and immediately thought: ‘talk to her in that teasing, jokey way you talk to your Indian friend’. But of course the audience member was a total stranger (in a public setting), and which stranger could take kindly to such remarks?
Au has apologised, gracefully and sincerely, without attempting to justify what she did (which is more than I can say of those who might claim that they’re being ‘victimised’ by political correctness and that ‘people can’t take a joke anymore’–or worse, say that ‘I have many Indian friends so I can’t be racist’).
And now on to the rest of the Games!
(PS: Some people cannot read properly so let me summarise. This isn’t saying ‘she did nothing wrong’. This is saying, ‘she did something wrong and admitted it and made a voluntary apology’. There’s a difference k?)
The answer to the biggest secret in town was finally revealed on Friday evening when Singapore’s football legend Fandi Ahmad and his eldest son, national Under-23 striker Irfan, lit the cauldron for the 28th SEA Games at the Sports Hub.
Since his national team debut in 1979, Fandi has never relinquished his position as the country’s most successful and celebrated footballer. His enduring popularity can be attributed to his work ethic, talent, charisma and clean living.
Wang Meng Meng takes a look at the career of the former national captain and current coach of the LionsXII.
1. A star is born
It all began in 1978 when Fandi Ahmad led Singapore A to the Lion City Cup. Fans were thrilled to see the skinny teenager skippering the country to the trophy and scoring eight goals in the process.
A year later, he made his full international debut with the Lions in a SEA Games match against Indonesia, making him the country’s youngest-ever debutant then at 17 years, three months and 23 days. That record stood until 2007, when Hariss Harun earned his first cap against North Korea aged 16 years, seven months and five days.
In 1980, the young Fandi became a national hero when he scored the winning goal in the 2-1 Malaysia Cup final victory over Selangor.
2. Making a name for himself overseas
Fandi Ahmad was offered a contract at Dutch giants Ajax, but turned it down. — PHOTO: ST FILE
Firmly established as a star striker in Singapore, Fandi ventured abroad and was offered a three-year contract by Dutch giants Ajax in 1982. However, the homesick striker turned it down.
But he was back in the Netherlands a year later, joining Groningen. There, he hit a career high point when he scored in a 2-1 Uefa Cup win (now Europa League) over Italy’s Inter Milan.
3. Returning to his roots
Fandi Ahmad lifting the trophy after winning the Malaysia Cup in 1994 at Shah Alam Stadium in Selangor. — PHOTO: ST FILE
Fandi Ahmad carrying the trophy after winning the Malaysia FA Cup final against Kelantan at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on May 23, 2015. — PHOTO: BERITA HARIAN
After successful spells in Malaysia with Kuala Lumpur and Pahang, Fandi returned and in 1994, he captained Singapore to the M-League and Malaysia Cup double.
As a coach, Fandi won two S-League titles with Singapore Armed Forces FC (2000, 2002) and was named the league’s Coach of the Year in 2000.
In 2014, he returned home to take charge of the LionsXII after coaching overseas in Indonesia and Malaysia and last month, he guided the team to Malaysian FA Cup glory, beating Kelantan 3-1 in front of 87,000 fans at Bukit Jalil Stadium.
4. The Fandi brood
Fandi Ahmad finally tied the knot with South Africa-born model Wendy Jacobs in 1996 at the age of 34. — PHOTO: ST FILE
One of Singapore’s most eligible bachelors finally tied the knot with South Africa-born model Wendy Jacobs in 1996 at the age of 34. The couple went on to have five sporty children. They are:
Fandi Ahmad (second from right) with his wife, Wendy Jacobs, and children (from left) Iman, Ikhsan (standing in red), Iryan, Ilhan and Irfan. — PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER FILE
Irfan: The 17-year-old, who lit the cauldron with Fandi, is a striker with the national Under-23 football team competing at this SEA Games. Standing at 1.87m, the teenager wears the No. 17 jersey like his famous father and has impressed with his aerial power, eye for goal and willingness to work hard for the team.
Ikhsan: Just like Irfan, 16-year-old Ikhsan is a forward but he plays differently, relying on his bag of tricks and speed to get past markers. Fandi’s second son is currently training with Chilean top division club Universidad Catolica.
Iman: A former sprinter with the Singapore Sports School and once the fastest girl over 100m in primary school competition, the 15-year-old Iman is now making a name for herself as a budding model and fashionista.
Ilhan: Another striker to roll off Fandi’s production line, Ilhan, named after Turkey’s ex-World Cup star Ilhan Mansiz, has already showed plenty of promise. Two years ago, when he was 10, the skinny forward scored four goals to help Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) beat Henry Park Primary 4-3 to win the National Primary Schools Football Championship.
Iryan: Born on National Day in 2006, the cherubic Iryan is the youngest in Team Fandi. Following in the family tradition, he has picked up football and is now a budding player at ACS (Junior).
5. His legend lives on
Fandi Ahmad (right) with wife Wendy Jacobs (centre) as they pose with the football legend’s wax figure at ITE College Central on Oct 8, 2014. — — PHOTO: BH FILE
Off the field, Singapore’s favourite footballing son continues to be adored by the public, who never forgot his contributions to the country.
In 2013, Fandi was honoured by Madame Tussauds with a waxwork in his likeness, joining other Singaporean icons like singer Stefanie Sun and sitcom character Phua Chu Kang. However, wife Wendy cheekily commented that the figure’s buttocks were not as large as her husband’s.
National sports agency Sport Singapore has also honoured Fandi ahead of this SEA Games by producing a video chronicling his childhood. The 12-minute YouTube clip, entitled Ordinary, sees the re-enactment of how the young Fandi is inspired by his late father, former Singapore goalkeeper Ahmad Wartam, to dedicate himself to football.
After months of planning and anticipation, the 28th SEA Games kicked off yesterday evening with a spectacular opening ceremony that drew more than 40,000 people to the new National Stadium, where Singapore sporting legends including C Kunalan, Glory Barnabas, K Jayamani and Ang Peng Siong were thrust into the limelight alongside the country’s current generation of athletes.
Various ASEAN leaders, including Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, were present as Singapore President Tony Tan declared the Games officially open, to raucous cheers.
The three-hour extravaganza of stunning light displays and singing was divided in five acts, showcasing the cultures and traditions of the region as well as the essence of unity, imagination, youth and the efforts of local sporting greats who had once done the nation proud.
And it was perhaps nostalgia that rippled through the crowd of young and old, with families in tow, as parents told their children of a time when the Games first starred at the old National Stadium in 1973, when sprint legend C Kunalan dashed up the steps with the torch, holding on stoically while the flames burnt his hand.
Or of the 1983 Games, and again in 1993 when the biennial event was previously held here, when swimming’s golden girl, Joscelin Yeo, completed a nine-gold feat at the Toa Payoh pool.
As the SEA Games return to Singapore after 22 years, the National Stadium, along with 30 other competition venues around the island, will bear witness as the Republic’s national athletes write their stories of triumph, tears and joy in what is also the biggest event yet as Singapore marks her Golden Jubilee.
As Singapore ushered in the region’s sporting tournament in fine fashion and welcomed over 7,000 athletes and officials here, more than 400 gold medals will be handed out before the Games close on June 16.
Yesterday, from giant trees and orang utans, to flying cranes, turtles and trains, oohs and aahs echoed through the stadium as the giant props came flying through the venue during the five-act show, while Nila the Games mascot provided the “cute” factor, parachuting into the stadium to the delight of the young ones in the crowd.
Amid the celebrations, Singapore also took time to pay tribute to its founding father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in a moving video tribute on his contributions to and thoughts on sports in Singapore. Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, said in his speech at the opening ceremony: “On this night, we also remember to pay tribute to Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Mr Lee played a key part in developing a sporting Singapore. He officially opened our former National Stadium in 1973, when Singapore first hosted the SEA Games. Tonight, we are gathered together once again at the same site in Kallang, but now in a different stadium — in this majestic Sports Hub.”
Touted as the curtain-raiser for the SG50 celebrations, the SEA Games’ main attraction will certainly be the 749 national athletes gunning to win over 50 gold medals to celebrate the nation’s 50th birthday. So it was no surprise that Team Singapore drew the loudest cheers as it made its way into the stadium, as the country and the show paid tribute to the country’s sporting legends, who featured alongside the star attraction of the games, swimmer Joseph Schooling.
But the whistles were reserved for football’s favourite son Fandi Ahmad, the final torchbearer in the inter-generational pairs of current and ex-athletes running the final lap in the stadium. Linking up with eldest son Irfan, the duo lit the Games cauldron at the Kallang waterfront, kicking off what was the start of the 36-sport event.
Talk ahead of the Games had some questioning the choice of Fandi — who has never won a Games gold medal — as the candidate to light the cauldron, but a return to the spiritual home of Singapore football was a special one for the 53-year-old.
“This is my greatest moment,” he said. “I’ve won lots of titles here and there, but this is the greatest one. This is even much more important than scoring a goal in the Malaysia Cup Final. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. (And) it is special doing this with my son because in handing over, I hope he will represent the country in several years to come and hopefully, he can guide other youngsters to score.”
