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How do U define a Singaporean?
- Thread starter Char_Azn
- Start date
singaporeans from the past, i.e, those oldies or senior citizens grade are better. they are more tolerant, understanding and definitely mindful about their behaviours.
singaporeans after the STOP AT 2, where kids were getting lesser and more precious began to breed a new generation oblivious of what the oldies intrinically possess. they are mostly the reversed and more negative in their speech, behaviour and overall outlook in life.
after this posting, u may get to witness what i mean.
why u still beating ur father and scoling ur mother laucheebye?
singaporeans from the past, i.e, those oldies or senior citizens grade are better. they are more tolerant, understanding and definitely mindful about their behaviours.
singaporeans after the STOP AT 2, where kids were getting lesser and more precious began to breed a new generation oblivious of what the oldies intrinically possess. they are mostly the reversed and more negative in their speech, behaviour and overall outlook in life.
after this posting, u may get to witness what i mean.
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aiyo...last time last time...last time mata wear shorts...
times have changed, so surely people also changed. The question is to ask, why have people's attitude / traits changed.
OK finally managed to find the interview. Someone mentioned this interview in the football thread and said this guy was the exception compared to the rest of the FT squad.
I think this makes a good example.
He wasn't under the FT scheme. He applied for citizen himself. Actually got rejected once yet still tried again. Sounds sincere enough and like John Dykes stated, most SGreans would be looking to go over to Aus, this guy came the other way so I dun think money was the biggest pull factor. So does this one fit your description of acceptable converted citizen.
Personally as long as he sincere wants live the rest of his life here, I'd be glad to call him a fellow country man
I think this makes a good example.
He wasn't under the FT scheme. He applied for citizen himself. Actually got rejected once yet still tried again. Sounds sincere enough and like John Dykes stated, most SGreans would be looking to go over to Aus, this guy came the other way so I dun think money was the biggest pull factor. So does this one fit your description of acceptable converted citizen.
Triumphing over adversity
Comment by John Dykes
Singapore national team captain Alex Duric’s extraordinary longevity as a professional athlete has its roots in a number of life-shaping experiences.
Sydney in March is a truly glorious place to be: a day spent with the kids in the sun and surf at Bondi, an evening enjoying superb Italian food and fine wine across town in Leichhardt with its renowned Norton Street eateries.
It’s hard to imagine anyone giving all this up, especially after travelling half-way round the world from hardship and heartbreak in Europe to earn it. Yet giving up Australian citizenship is exactly what Aleksandar (Alex) Duric did.
The former Leichhardt-based Sydney Marconi player surrendered his Aussie passport two years ago when his application for Singapore citizenship was finally approved. With his 39th birthday not far off, it would seem an odd move for someone whose thoughts should be turning to retirement – something which is often linked with a move to Australia for many Singaporeans.
“I worked hard for this and I am really happy here,” said Duric during a candid, moving Football Up Close interview last week.
AGAINST THE ODDS ... Singapore’s Armed Forces team captain Alex Duric, right, has made a career for himself by taking on the big challenges.
“My wife and two children are really happy here, and maybe we feel comfortable in a country which is so multi-cultural with so many different kinds of people from different parts of the world.”
The Duric story, which you can hear at greater length when the interview airs soon on ESPN, is an extraordinary one.
Born in Bosnia in the former Yugoslavia, Duric was a talented young sportsman who grew up playing football but took up kayaking on the advice of a doctor and became so good that he represented his country on the world stage at youth level.
When war came to his country, Duric (an ethnic Serb) was told by his father to leave, to ensure the continuance of the family name.
“He knew the war was going to be bad and told me it was either me or my brother who should leave, as we would both have to fight in the army. He told me because I was the sportsman I should leave and that I should play sport and make a life in sport.”
So Duric left for an unsuccessful trial at AEK Stockholm in Sweden before he found work at FC Szeged in Hungary. He lost touch with his family for more than a year and, tragically, his next contact with them revealed that his mother had been killed in a grenade attack.
“It was the darkest time of my life,” he recalls. “I lost my Mum and I wasn’t able to see my father and brother for years.”
A year earlier, a letter had somehow found him in Hungary. It was from Bosnia’s sporting authorities who asked him if he would represent them at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. With no formal papers and just a letter from the Games organisers, Duric hitch-hiked across Europe (with lengthy, skeptical interviews at every border) and made it in time for the opening ceremony.
The 10-athlete Bosnian team received a standing ovation as they marched around the track. Using borrowed equipment, Duric made the quarter-finals in his event.
That amazing experience was a delightful interlude amongst depressing times. Life as a refugee in Hungary was tough, no news came from home and the news on TV was relentlessly grim. When he was finally reunited with his family members after the war, Duric had just days with his father before he, too, passed away from illness.
He took up a friend’s offer to try a new life in Australia and played in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, where he met his wife Natasha in 1998. By then he had already spent a year playing professionally in China. In 1999, he was given a choice between attractive playing contracts in Hong Kong or Singapore. He chose the latter and hasn’t looked back since.
Indeed, it was after his arrival in Singapore that Duric came into his own as a footballer. Perhaps it was his kayak training, perhaps it was the grueling physical regime he went through as a trainee officer in the Bosnian army (he recalls being dropped in the freezing Balkans for 60km walks carrying a hefty 30kg pack) but Duric is as fine a physical specimen as the S-League has seen, even in his late 30s. He also converted himself from a midfielder to a striker and took Singapore football by storm.
Duric has scored goals at all his clubs but has been a revelation at the club he currently captains, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF FC).
From the age of 35, he topped the S-League’s goal-scoring charts and was named Player of the Year in consecutive seasons. He is now leading SAF FC’s valiant tilt at the AFC Champions League – the first time a Singapore club has made it to the competition.
He is also a Singapore international, who scored twice on debut and has come back from a broken leg suffered during December’s AFF Suzuki Cup to command a place in the Lions’ starting XI. He has also captained the side.
“It’s important that people understand I didn’t get into the national team by the Foreign Talent Scheme (Singapore’s controversial fast-track approach which has seen former mainland Chinese win the country medals at table tennis, while Nigerians and Britons have helped boost the national football team),” insists Duric.
“I had to apply for citizenship twice before it was approved. I wanted to become a Singapore citizen. Yes, it was hard to give up my Australian citizenship but this also gave me a chance to reach the next level in my career. I have been here 10 years now and I am proud of being a Singaporean.”
Again, the full on-air interview will give you a fuller understanding of the man, but one gets the impression that Alex Duric’s extraordinary longevity as a professional athlete has its roots in a number of life-shaping experiences.
But one in particular stands out: his father said go out and be a sportsman, and make a name for yourself. And that is precisely what Alex Duric has done. And is still doing.
http://football.thestar.com.my/starspecial/story.asp?file=/2009/3/27/footballeveryday/3565855&sec=FootballEveryDay
Personally as long as he sincere wants live the rest of his life here, I'd be glad to call him a fellow country man
Yeah, it was me.
I saw the intervew on espn. And I would agree with your last sentence.
This guy is no doubt a foreigner, but he is in my opinion, one of the useful ones and someone I would be glad to call a fellow Singaporean.
He's the ultimate professional, 40+ yo and still managed to play the full 90 minutes in both matches against Malaysia. Was a refugee at one time, hence he really values the citizenship. Interviews done with him by the newpaper usually done at a hawker centre with him eating mee pok dry and a teh tarik. No fancy western restaurant for this chap.
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likewise, i am willing to accept him as a sinkie since given his background and his willingness to lend a shoulder to the wheel. His story echoed that of many political / economic refugees who were grateful to their adopted countries. Hope he remain in football if he retire one day - eg: coach a team.
“I had to apply for citizenship twice before it was approved. I wanted to become a Singapore citizen. Yes, it was hard to give up my Australian citizenship but this also gave me a chance to reach the next level in my career. I have been here 10 years now and I am proud of being a Singaporean.”
just makes me think that athletes and aussies are dumber than i thought.
just makes me think that athletes and aussies are dumber than i thought.
How Singaporean are you?
www.iamsingaporean.sg
www.iamsingaporean.sg
Stupid FAS have very lousy post career planning. Once the player retires, really they die their biz that's why no one wanna go into Sports. Hopefully Duric doesn't get toss out like some of his predessors
The australian alws allows one to reaplly for the Australian citizenship after renouncing it based on hardship. When this new Singaporean stop playing, you can than judge his statement.
I would give him the benefit of doubt as his wife is probably holding a Australian passport with Singapore P.R.
I would give him the benefit of doubt as his wife is probably holding a Australian passport with Singapore P.R.
I am editing primary school text book for next year. Do I have to get your permission in writing if I want to include those in the book?
To char obviously the proper definition of being a singaporean is to hold citizenship but then again i don't really think this fully defines being one. There are many ppl that hold citizenship here that do not engage in the local culture here. I'm not even talking about the new citizens but the minority like ang mohs and other asian races. Someone that belongs to one of the 3 major races, practices singaporean culture and holds citizenship would in the truest sense of the word be considered a singaporean but that's not set in stone. For some ppl they consider those that have served NS as singaporeans even if they don't speak singlish or know much about the local culture.
A lot have condemn FTs for not serving NS, but when it comes down to it, you can see a number in here have express the opinion that NS is not mandatory. So everyone has their own opinions. I'm just interested to know what your opinion is.
