Will French Open Champion Li Na be a Singaporean?

Video of Li Na winning the French Open at Roland Garros...

China savors Li Na's French Open win
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

Li Na of China holds the trophy after defeating Francesca Schiavone of Italy in two sets 6-4, 7-6, in the women's final of the French Open tennis tournament in Roland
Li Na's landmark French Open win Saturday drew a massive outpouring of support in China, captivating a nation where tennis' popularity has been growing rapidly.

"People now can feel it, that Chinese tennis is just too tough. This has left a really deep impression on the world," announcer Tong Kexin said on state broadcaster CCTV. "Li Na truly deserves to be called a great champion."

CCTV added the banner "We love you Li Na," to their gushing post-match coverage after Li became China's first Grand Slam champion by beating Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6 (0) in the women's final.

The official Xinhua News Agency sent out a news flash shortly after Li's victory.

"In such a great final, Li Na deserved the win," Xinhua wrote.

Excitement was all over the faces of fans who gathered at the Green Bank Tennis Club on Beijing's northern edge to eat barbecue, drink beer and see China's long wait for a Grand Slam champion finally come to an end. Watching the award ceremony on a big-screen TV set up on the court, they cheered, jumped the net and waved Chinese flags.

"Throughout China's history people knew nothing of tennis. Now we're standing on the summit of the world game," said Zhang Yueming, the club's general manager.

Chen Jiaojiao, who said she hails from Li's home province of Hubei, called the win "a huge boost of confidence for Chinese tennis."

"She's brought the country so much glory. She's really incredible," Chen said.

China is experiencing the second wave of Li fever this year following her runner-up finish at the Australian Open that saw her dubbed "the pride of China" by the mainstream media.

Chinese tennis federation head Sun Jinfang was widely quoted at the time as comparing Li to Houston Rockets center Yao Ming and Olympic hurdle champion Liu Xiang, until now China's best known international professional athletes.

Still, the celebrations on Saturday might have been bigger under different circumstances. Li clinched the victory shortly after 11:00 p.m. local time on a holiday weekend when many Chinese had left the cities to visit family. Tennis is considered an elite sport in China and while the numbers of players are growing quickly, it still runs far behind basketball, soccer, table tennis and other sports in numbers of participants.

Li's victory is expected to change that, a prospect she addressed in her post-match remarks to CCTV.

"I hope that lots of kids see my performance and in their hearts feel that one day they can do even better than me," she said.

Tennis fan Shi Xinli predicted the win's effect on Chinese tennis would be "like a mighty storm."

"I don't know how many kids are going to be taking it up, how many parents are going to be paying for lessons," said Shi, a stock investor.

S’pore needs more well-educated new citizens : LKY

from: reborner
S’pore needs more educated immigrants to make country dynamic, says MM
Lee

SINGAPORE : Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has reiterated
the need for Singapore to attract more educated immigrants.

Speaking at the Indian New Year celebrations in Little India on
Saturday, Mr Lee said Singaporeans must recognise that with a
declining population, the country needs such people, including those
who have studied or worked in the US and Europe.

With the economy in a buoyant mood after the government upgraded its
growth forecast for the year, Mr Lee said Singapore needs to grow as
an attractive hub for international trade, investment and talent to
sustain long—term growth.

"We benefited from being open to immigrants from around the world,
especially China, India and the region. Throughout history, Singapore
has welcomed migrants. When I first took office, we had 62,000 babies
every year from a population of 2 million. Today, Singapore citizens
produce only 32,000 babies in a year when we should have 60,000 just
to replace our population," said MM Lee.

Little India is a glowing example of how early immigrants have
flourished and taken root in the country.

Mr Lee said the government understands the concerns of Singaporeans
over new immigrants and foreign workers. So it has taken steps to
moderate the inflow and widen the differentiation between citizens and
non—citizens.

Having educated immigrants here, said Mr Lee, makes Singapore more
competitive and dynamic.

"The majority of the new PRs and citizens are skilled workers and
professionals in finance, IT and R&D. They bring new skills, global
connections and a strong drive to create better lives for their
families," said Mr Lee.

Mr Lee gave an example of how one immigrant is making a difference.

"Shyam Srinivasan came from Chennai at age 14, and went to Geylang
Methodist Secondary School and Victoria Junior College. He took up
citizenship and obtained a teaching scholarship from the Public
Service Commission," said the Minister Mentor.

"Last year, he graduated top of his class in Physics at Oxford
University. He is now doing his Masters in Applied Physics at Columbia
University. He will come back and complete his NS. He will educate and
inspire the next generation of Singaporeans," he said.

Their presence has also helped to shape the Singapore landscape.

Mr Lee cited how many Indian temples today have been refurbished to
look "elegant" and "colourful".

"Our immigration policies have brought in better educated and wealthy
Indians who have made that qualitative difference to our lives. Their
support of these temples has resulted in this transformation,
reflecting the transformation that is taking place throughout
Singapore," said Mr Lee.

Mr Lee said the challenge is to integrate newcomers into Singapore
society and an event like this Indian New Year Celebration is a good
example of how integration can be done.

The event brings together different communities, not just among the
different Indian ethnic groups, but also Singaporeans of all races. -CNA
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From trevally8:
Educated?
What is the definition?
We have more than enough native educated Singaporeans!
These FT are like the Romania ambassador.
When they need you, they will sing how good SIN is but when they are going off they will bad mouth SIN until like they were forced to stay in SIN city.
I think the govt seriously do not know what is happening on the ground.
Do we really need those normal educated FT?
----------------------------------------------
From chokky

the unhappiness on the ground is real.
i already felt it when i was doing my ns.
back in the 90s, people talked alot, made noise, but i never got the feeling they were unhappy. but around the late 2000s, things changed. people talked, and they were starting to get genuinely unhappy. they started citing examples of unhappiness, something which was not done previously.

i had many of my guys in ns coming to me asking why they are forced to slog so much in ns out in the field when many others did not, and new citizens did not need to. frankly i had no good answer to them, and today i still have no good answer.

and now the guys have largely grown up---and what are they thinking of nowadays?
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From diveaces
obviously the FTs here are not educated enuf...we need MORE!!??

haha...obviously by opening the flood gates, any kuchi kurang also can come in....so not very right...
in order to attract the capable and really proper FTs, the brand and the citizenship should be coveted....right now...the citizens here are like 3rd class...how u expect to attract the Good Class FTs?....

Are you proud to be a Singapore-born citizen?

From: "AleXX"
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 18:37:50 +0800
Local: Sun, Oct 4 2009 6:37 pm
Subject: Re: Are you proud to be a Singapore-born citizen?

"AleXX" wrote in message

> Singapore should be proud to show the world that it was the "FIRST"
> country to tackle population decline by importing foreigners and giving
> them citizenship. Yet another "FIRST" for Singapore. Japan should follow
> Singapore's examples. They should import more Thais, Malaysian, Laotian,
> Burmese, Bangladesh, Chinese, Hongky, Taiwanese, Korean, Filipino,
> Vietnamese, Cambodian and Indian.

Go into a train cabin, and you can hear an assortment of different
stereophonic languages spoken.