TR EMERITUS

A deluge of letters were published in the Straits Times Forum today lambasting the YOG organizers for the mix-up in the ticketing which caused many genuine fans to miss out on tickets for the event. The Singapore YOG Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) had earlier announced triumphantly that the "majority" of the YOG tickets have been sold. It turns out that the Ministry of Education "bought" 80,000 of the 100,000 tickets in the open market for sale using taxpayers' monies. The tickets are subsequently "distributed" to students who are either strongly "encouraged" or coerced directly by their teachers to attend the events to generate fake support for it. However, as many of them either did not bother to turn up at all or left early after signing their attendance, it resulted in a strange phenomenon in which there are plenty of empty seats seen at the Games even on screen though the tickets are technically "sold out". Instead of focusing on yet another major screw-up by the SYOGOC, the state media cleverly chose to divert public attention to the frustrations of Singaporeans who are unable to obtain YOG tickets to create a false impression that the event is highly sought after when in fact, the majority of Singaporeans are not interested in it at all. Debra Tan wrote: "A half-empty venue was evident even to Youth Olympics fans watching it on television. That was my observation too as I caught the highlights of the badminton preliminary rounds on television on Monday." Alan Hart asked: "Why were the venues almost 60 per cent empty? Empty venues send the wrong message that no one is interested." [Source: Straits Times Forum, 19 August 2010] SYOGOC is now rectifying the problem by releasing the unoccupied seats for sale to the public, prompting some netizens to query if it is making a "double" profit from the new sale since the seat may have been bought by MOE already. Even if the tickets are re-sold to the public, it is unlikely to lift the lukewarm interest which has plagued the YOG from Day 1 which is now being dubbed the "Youth Arirang Games" by Singaporeans after it was revealed that students are being forced or even extorted by their teachers to attend the games just to fill up the empty seats.  Read More →

On August 18th, 2010, Temasek Review reported that students from Kuo Chuan Presbysterian Primary School were "blackmailed" into paying a $5 deposit to watch the YOG Preliminary swimming competition at the Singapore Sports School on 19 August 2010. The $5 deposit will be returned to them if they turned up on the actual day and confiscated if they do not do so. (Kuo Chuan Primary School students FORCED to pay $5 deposit to ensure they watch YOG games) The high-handed and arbitrary manner in which this school is forcing their students to support the YOG has peeved many Singaporeans off with many condemning the school's actions and calling for the MOE to take appropriate action. [Please sign the petition demanding a public apology from Dr Vivian Balakrishnan for mismanaging the YOG here.] Responding to enquiry by MediaCorp, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary principal Clifford Chua said this was not an attempt to coerce the pupils to support the Games. Mr Chua said it was “never the school’s intent, nor is there such a necessity”; there was such “overwhelming response” that pupils had to ballot for the 100 tickets the school got for five YOG events. However, as the school gave out the tickets for free, the intent was to ”ENSURE THAT OUR CHILDREN LEARN THE VALUE OF RESPONSIBILITY AND NOT TAKE TAKE THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY AND NOT FOR GRANTED, by wasting the ticket and depriving others of the chance”, he told MediaCorp. The refundable deposit, he said, was only for games that fall on non-school days, to “reinforce this message”. This was explained to parents and pupils, “and they have expressed support”. Despite the scheme, pupils who fail to turn up, even without a valid reason, will eventually get their deposits back, added Mr Chua. “Children are children. They tend not to value things that are given to them free. But really, the intention is to teach them to commit yourself and to behave responsibly,” he said. Parents of Kuo Chuan pupils had mixed views about the school’s move. Technical support officer Md Alkaf, 32, said: “It’s not the right way because if the student is really interested, he would turn up.” Housewife Michelle Bellido, 43, felt otherwise. She said: “Children may not realise it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It wouldn’t be nice if someone who gets the tickets backs out when others … are desperate to go.” Netizens were less forgiving and minced no words. peanuts600K: Why must those who do not like the YOG be forced to watch it. Isn’t there anything better to do? Who give the school authority to enforce such a law to students to literally forced the students to attend such unmeaningful event. The Ministry of Education and the school should be ashamed of themselves to come up with such lame method to booster the attendance for such a lousy event. KNN: Huh?!? Is this even legal? Why not charge parents $110/month to ensure their kids attend school — to be refunded if kid does not play truant? PAP smear :I notice that while it says ‘consent form’ at the top, there’s no indication of whether parents can refuse to let their child attend. Means that the school has already made up their minds the ALL their students will attend regardless of parental consent. IMO, they wouldn’t even bother giving out the form if they didn’t need to collect ticket fees. omg: OMG! What has our MOE turns into ????? With our Education Minister said our students will be benefiting from the YOG but gotta resort into ‘DEPOSIT’ to secure attendance for YOG games ??? this is outragious: Is this really happening in Singapore? Are our professionals from the education fraternity truly doing this? My god, is this true? Do they actually have brains to decide to resort to such low acts? Luckygirl: I thank my lucky stars that I’m not a student anymore. Otherwise I wud be facing the same predicament as the students. Life is getting harder for students nowadays. While Kuo Chuan Presbysterian Primary School requires a $5 deposit to "instill the value of responsibility" in its children to watch the YOG, other schools contacted has no such practise. Netizen Lex sums it all up with a valid question: I believe the school has no right to collect $5 deposit. I believe it is call EXTORTION which is an offence under the penal code? As for this writer, blackmail would have been a more suited word. Forecaster Extraordinarie II  Read More →

Embattled PAP Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Teo Ser Luck appears to have run out of luck this time over the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) debacle which may cut short his fledgling political career this time. [Get instant updates and discussions about the YOG on our Facebook page here] Together with his boss Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Teo was responsible for bringing the inaugural YOG to Singapore though Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had admitted in 2007 that Singapore is not quite ready to host the YOG. Plagued by lack of support from Singaporeans right from the beginning, the YOG is doomed to fail with the Ministry of Education (MOE) having to purchase 80,000 out of the 100,000 tickets on sale to save the PAP regime's its blushes. Despite overwhelming evidence showing that most Singaporeans are not interested in the YOG, Mr Teo continues to put up a brave front and pretend all is going well with his expensive pet project which has come under increased fire lately from Singaporeans for bursting the initial budget by more than three times to a shocking $389 million dollars. In an interview with YahooNews, Mr Teo says he is "confident" that more YOG tickets will be sold when Singapore starts to perform well at the games. “I wouldn’t say we are disappointed, I think we are quite happy with the ticket sales so far but I also hope more Singaporeans will also support the games and Team Singapore,” he was quoted as saying in Yahoo News. According to reports on the ground, Singapore students are being forced by schools to attend YOG games with one school Kuo Chuan Primary School slapping a $5 deposit on the students to ensure they turn up. The sale of YOG tickets in the open market is so bad that they have been "distributed" to government agencies, statutory boards and grassroots organizations to be given free of charge to their staff. The Civil Service Club is currently giving out 400 FREE YOG tickets to its members for the YOG Closing Ceremony. The YOG was dogged by controversies even before it was officially opened last Saturday with complaints of Singapore volunteers being fed "DOG" food and treated like "slaves" under inhumane working conditions which run contrary to the Olympian values of "excellence, respect and friendship." As expected, the YOG has struck a "chord" among all PAP ministers and MPs with many of them being "infected" by the fake "enthusiasm" on the ground generated by the state using precious public resources. Mr Teo must be quite "happy" with the good astroturfing done by MOE and other government agencies so far to generate an artificial hype about the YOG which would have put North Korea's Workers' Party to shame.     EDITORS’ NOTE: Foreign journalists, please stay tuned on our site and Facebook for the latest updates on the ground about the YOG. You can never get any authentic or accurate news from the Singapore media which is ranked a pathetic 133th in terms of press freedom by international media watchdog Reporters without Borders last year. All the papers in Singapore are owned by a single media company – Singapore Press Holdings whose Chairman is a former PAP minister Dr Tony Tan. It has little credibility among Singaporeans who are flocking to obtain uncensored news on the internet.   Related articles: >> Cover-up of YOG food poisoning scandal? >> NEA, MOH to probe YOG mass food poisoning outbreak  >> Singaporeans “enslaved” by YOG organizing commitee >> Kuo Chuan Primary School students forced to pay $5 to attend YOG >> Singapore students forced to welcome YOG torch rally >> Mass food poisoning outbreak at YOG venue yesterday? >> YOG! 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