The Greatest Achievement by Singapore these 46 years

                                                


       My late father Geoffrey Abisheganaden was interviewed in the book, Men in White, in it, he stated that the greatest achievement that Singapore had achieved was racial harmony. People of diffrent races, intermingling, and living side by side one another without fear and with friendship and camaderie built up through the shared struggles of a young nation.  Singapore's first prime minister as an independent nation, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and his able team of ministers have done a truly remarkable job transforming a once dirty backwater seaport into a shining metropolis with a high per capita GDP and many billions of foreign reserves.

      It was not too long ago that the UK and the USA were the 2 leading powerhouses of industry and all things popular from popular culture to fashion. In the last 3 years, there have been 2 major financial crises (1 is occuring at this present moment),US is technically bankrupt with 14 trillion of foriegn debt and UK not far off, with many endemic social problem, not least is the recent riots which highlight the longstanding hopelessness of the underclass - which are mainly from certain races who have been marginalised - and tearing apart of the social fabric of a country whose standard of living was the envy maybe just 40 years ago. Now US and UK's living standards for the masses or general population is frankly 3rd world and the worst is expected to follow with massive government budget cuts, and dim job prospects for the youth livin there.  

      It is with pride that as Singapore celebrates her 46th year of independence, I am especially proud of our  Singapore and our country has a bright forseeable future thanks to the early founding fathers and the tough decisions made during those difficult emerging years.

Thank you Mr. Lee and members of his cabinet.

Majulah Singapura !!

Kung Fu Hustle 2004 ; Final Fight Scene in HD

Classic ending to the movie. Its in Cantonese, way better than the English dubbed version. Enjoy.

Maroon 5 Moves like Jagger

Dedicated to Mick Jagger no less, who is a rock and roll icon of the last 40 years. Go Mick ! No old fart "El Divo" types for me.

'Green Lantern' of Bukit Jalil - How Unsportsmanlike !

Boo ! 

Laser light on Iswan's face

   The recent World Cup qualifying 2nd round match between Malaysia and Singapore brought out the best in both sets of players, and unfortunately the worst and shameful behavior from some so called Malaysian 'fans'.

   The picture above clearly shows one 'supporter' shining a green laser light aimed at the Singapore goalkeeper while Malaysia was about to take a crucial free kick. The faces of those beside him are those of nonchalance, or not being too bothered. This is utterly unsportsmanlike and totally unacceptable ! I heard that this shameful 'tactic' was employed during the recent AFC championships between Indonesia and Malaysia.

   If you want to be amongst the region's sporting best, please refrain from this childish and immature behaviors, it does not speak well of yourself. I am sure these idiots are a very small minority, but can tar a country's fine image of a multicultural and peaceful progressive society.

Singapore vs Malaysia World Cup Qualifiers 2014 ; July 2011 all Goals

    This is the summary of all the goals from the First Leg between Singapore and Malaysia for the 2nd Round World Cup Qualifiers. To be honest, I did not watch either game live, because it was too tense, and I had other ongoing appointments, so only watched the highlights of both games from the news.Singapore had been having a horrible 2010, and had the entire National team disbanded in early 2011, so that new blood could be injected, while retaining the talented, team players. I have utmost respect for Alex Duric, a Bosnian Serb by birth and who has played in Singapore for more than 10 years, applied for Singapore citizenship twice before, got rejected twice, and only got his citizenship approved in 2008.He is 41 this year, and fighting fit. He scored 2 precious goals in the first leg and headed the ball down for the 2nd leg scorer Shi Jia Yi to equalise the game at Bukit Jalil and kill off any hopes for Malaysia to advance to the 3rd round. Kudos goes to Alex !

Another 2 players who deserve special mention are the goalkeeper (3rd choice) Iswan Mahbud (21 years), and Safuwan Baharuddin (19 years).They were thrown into the cauldron of Bukit Jalil with 90,000 screaming partisan fans,who were jeering at everything related to Singapore as well as water bottles and lasers. They performed like heroes and took everything which the Malaysian strike force could hit at them (literally). Never once lost their cool or cracked under pressure.

Well done Young Men !

It was sad to see some unsportsmanlike behaviour from the fans on the 2nd leg in Malaysia, such as shining of lasers on the goalkeeper's face as well as roughhouse tactics,like heavy tackling, on the young Singapore goalkeeper. However, the police at the Bukit Jalil stadium ensured there was absolutely no violence, so kudos go to them. Its a football match, not a prelude to war.

Finally, my utmost respect to 2 other people(s), the coach, 61 year old Raddy Abramovich from Serbia who since he came in 2004, has won 2 Asian Football Championships (2005 and 2007), 3rd place in SEA games and (now) twice into the 3rd round of the World Cup, once in 2007 and now in 2011.You are No. 1 in my game as coach. May we try our very very best to make it to the World Cup Finals ?!!

The last group of people are the Die Hard Singapore Fans. People of all races, ages and professions who love the Lions so much that they travel even into the cauldron which is Bukit Jalil and came out with their heads held high and never played mind games like the name calling, laser pointing and other unsportsmanlike behavior from the Malaysian 'fans'.

Truly, great ambassadors of the country we can be proud of. I salute every one of our players,coach, Die Hard Supporters. You make me so proud to be a Singaporean.

Onward Lions ! Majulah Singapura !

Malaysia vs Singapore 2nd Leg World Cup Qualifier Match 28 July 2011

    The goal from Singapore midfielder Shi Jia Yi came out from almost nowhere to equalise and effectively kill off Malaysia's chances of advancing past this stage of the World Cup Qualifiers. Another goal scored by the 'foreign talent' Shi Jia Yi. Detractors will say, "oh this is not Singapore people, just imports", but ultimately, almost 90% of Singaporeans were from overseas, from India, China, Malaysia and Europe.

    They do improve the level of our team play and raise Singapore's profile in the world standing, but that has always been the Government's game plan, attract the best and the brightest, and punch above your weight. Its a tough sell, I admit, but it produces results, and as football shows, it gives the people a feel good factor.

     Its not as if, the entire team is foreign born,so my suggestion is for at most half the team, would be a balance to satisfy the wants for local born and bred stars and some sprinkling of the best the world can offer.

    Well done to Malaysian Tigers team, they have plenty to be proud of in terms of passion and talent. However, there can only be one team to advance to the next round.

Foreign Talents in Singapore Pros vs Cons ; Verdict ?

Star Striker Alex Duric shielding the ball away from the Malaysian defender

      The recent 5 - 3 win by Singapore over Malaysia in the World Cup qualifying match played last Saturday has again ignited the issue about foreign born Singaporeans, especially from our Malaysian friends across  the Causeway. In the Singapore team, we have 3 - 4 Caucasian players from places like England and Serbia as well as a couple of mainland Chinese players. Previously we also had a couple of players originally from Nigeria and donning Singapore colours. Football is a passionate game and match results can unite a country or even cause unrest - see scenes from South American Copa America and other. Many people who witnessed the match and saw the result, from the sidelines did not mind that these Singaporeans are foreign born. They are proud to serve Singapore and improve the standard of Singapore football.

The question I want to ask is : Do they actually help in the OVERALL standard of Singapore football ??
Or are they denying the Singapore born players a shot at the international scene where their experience will be invaluable ? Lets take a look at a country which gave the world the modern day football game.

     The world's most exciting league is the English Barclays Premier League, top teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are global brands and have won the European Cups, UEFA Cups, Super Cups and the like. The teams have great players like Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Samri Nasir, Park Jee Young and many others, just to name a few. But the England side, what have they won ?  1 World Cup in 1966 (on home soil) and...  thats about it !

    English football is in the doldrums for as long as I can remember, and they have never made it to any World Cup final, only reached a semifinal in 1992 in Mexico. In 2002, they made it to the semis of the European Cup and that's about it. Pathethic showing for a country in which the original sport of football was founded !

   The bottom line is this, its all about money, while Singapore can afford to pay and attract these foreign born players, and now having lived in Singapore for at least 5 years, applied for a fast track Permanent Residency, get paid a good salary for an S League club, they have the opportunity to be selected for Singapore citizenship, and because of their size, natural talent, are able to lift the quality and skills of the Singapore football team for some time. Singapore were the AFC champions in 2005 and 2007 thanks to the input of Daniel Benett (England) and Mustafaric (Bosnia). We are thankful for these players and more for bringing the name of Singapore soccer to a higher level. There is no turning back here.

   The only worry I have is that the Singapore born boys and girls who have the talent of football will not be exploited to the fullest level, so that is in a way, unfair to these boys and girls. They should be given every opportunity to shine and ultimately make a decent living from sports like football. Will there ever be another Fandi Ahmad or Sundramoorthy if the football authorities keep bringing in the foreigners ?  So, its a painful decision, people of the soil versus foreign born, opportunities and chances of fame and fortune. There should be a positive descrimination for our Singaporeans over the foreign born players.  Ultimately, I feel we should limit the number of foreign born, be it whether they have lived here for 10 years or longer (FIFA calls for only 5), to no more than half the team, or 5 people.

    Then, there is some opportunity for Singapore born stars to develop and shine at national level, while the foreign born players raise the standards for our national team.