Foreign talent & migration

May you read this well.

Thus the small island proved to be a thorn to the bigger neighbour. Singapore defeated long rival Malaysia recently in FIFA's World Cup qualification. Though played on home soil, and a return leg eliciting greater rivalry, bragging rights belongs to Singapore, for now.

Amid the fanfare, by wisdom of common sense, close to half of the Singapore team comprised of foreign born talent. As a result of the Foreign Sport Talents Scheme, we now have Croats, Bosnian and Chinese from mainland China representing the national colour, along with our locals. Nothing new in this matter as due to immigration, European national teams now consists of non-white players. Difference is-they are second generation citizens.

The people representing higher management in Singapore Inc. must have thought that cutting the time period short would bring in glory faster. No need to wait for talented 2nd generation immigrants, just pick and choose, and offer citizenship. Has this been successful? Of course it has! We beat Malaysia to a similar scoreline when Liverpool visited Kuala Lumpur (a very biased view on my part though).

But are Singaporeans on the receiving end of a fair go? That answer begets much angst among Singapore-born citizens. Coz the playing field has always been claimed biased towards foreigners, even those without talent-besides screwing up big time.

So here are the pictures I took while watching the game with some of the Singaporean families here.

Monday begins a new chapter in my career. I'll be flying-in flying-out of site-similar to the schedule of working in oil rigs. But instead of the sea, I'll be in the middle of the outback-in no man's land-plying my trade in a huge mining site (a third of the size of Singapore,and still expanding). It pretty amazing that beneath the sand, the soil is rich in minerals and the Great Artesian Basin sustains life there. Looking forward to the hardwork, and the play-harder off days back in Adelaide. 

And how meaningful it would be, when Monday is the start of Ramadhan. Bless is such an understatement.

PeAcE OuT


Comments

  1. Norhafi Mohd Nafi2 August 2011 at 05:12

    Have a blessed Ramadan. Don't forget to dua for a wife as Allah will answer duas of those who fast. InsyaAllah..

    ReplyDelete

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