http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=516
Every so often, we see very clearly the quality and caliber of the kind of people we have in Government. And this time round, the mainstream media did not even bother to hide or cover up the series of missteps.
Lee Bee Wah’s blatant flip-flopping on the Gao Ning issue is startling, even by PAP standards.
Gao Ning, Singapore’s top male table-tennis player, crashed out of his first Olympics last Thursday, losing 0-4 to unheralded Tan Ruiwu of Croatia, because he was left without a coach. Zu Haining, the coach who was supposed to be in his corner, had to attend to another Singapore player, Yang Zi, whose coach had fallen ill.
A delay in the conclusion of Yang Zi’s match resulted in Zu Haining being unable to attend to Gao Ning.
The incident earned a sharp rebuke from Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah, who said that action should be taken against those who “neglected their duties”. (ST, “No coach present as Gao falls to unknown”, 22 Aug).
Lee Bee Wah, who is also an MP at Ang Mo Kio GRC, questioned why the Singapore team, with four coaches in Beijing, could not spare one for Gao. She was also quoted as saying that “we cannot accept such things happening in such an important tournament”.
Lee Bee Wah later translated her words into action. In no uncertain terms, she told The Sunday Times that the services of team manager Antony Lee were not needed anymore. (ST, “Singapore’s table tennis team manager told to leave”, 24 Aug).
Her statement came after she had a private meeting with the seven players — four women and three men — on Saturday afternoon, without inviting any officials.
She also said, “‘I have a new team and will have a new CEO and technical director. It is best that the manager is chosen by them. Antony is welcome to apply for the position when we ask for applications.”
Her statements naturally drew much flak from many observers who felt that she had made the decision too hastily and her rash actions put an unnecessary dampener on the joyous occasion of Singapore winning its first Olympic medal in 48 years.
But the story does not end there.
On Monday, in a very shocking about turn, Lee Bee Wah told TODAY newspaper, “I’m not sacking anybody … His contract expires on Aug 31, and before the Beijing Olympics, SSC had discussed facilitating his return and I said I had no objection. It has nothing to do with the Gao Ning incident.”
Her latest position is in total contradiction to all of the previous press reports on this issue.
She even went further, saying, “I didn’t say that Antony and the coach will be sacked … I feel that it’s all been blown out of proportion and now the damage is really terrible … I don’t want to be entangled in this whole issue. We have to move on to the bigger picture that STTA is working towards.”
Why the backtracking and the flip-flopping? Did Lee Bee Wah suddenly regret what she did and decided to change her stand. If so, why doesn’t she just issue an official retraction of her previous position rather than make it seem that the media mis-reported her?
And now, after all the damage is done, Lee Bee Wah says we have to move on to the bigger picture. It’s a little hard to do so when STTS has a big flip-flopper breathing down its neck.
Every so often, we see very clearly the quality and caliber of the kind of people we have in Government. And this time round, the mainstream media did not even bother to hide or cover up the series of missteps.
Lee Bee Wah’s blatant flip-flopping on the Gao Ning issue is startling, even by PAP standards.
Gao Ning, Singapore’s top male table-tennis player, crashed out of his first Olympics last Thursday, losing 0-4 to unheralded Tan Ruiwu of Croatia, because he was left without a coach. Zu Haining, the coach who was supposed to be in his corner, had to attend to another Singapore player, Yang Zi, whose coach had fallen ill.
A delay in the conclusion of Yang Zi’s match resulted in Zu Haining being unable to attend to Gao Ning.
The incident earned a sharp rebuke from Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah, who said that action should be taken against those who “neglected their duties”. (ST, “No coach present as Gao falls to unknown”, 22 Aug).
Lee Bee Wah, who is also an MP at Ang Mo Kio GRC, questioned why the Singapore team, with four coaches in Beijing, could not spare one for Gao. She was also quoted as saying that “we cannot accept such things happening in such an important tournament”.
Lee Bee Wah later translated her words into action. In no uncertain terms, she told The Sunday Times that the services of team manager Antony Lee were not needed anymore. (ST, “Singapore’s table tennis team manager told to leave”, 24 Aug).
Her statement came after she had a private meeting with the seven players — four women and three men — on Saturday afternoon, without inviting any officials.
She also said, “‘I have a new team and will have a new CEO and technical director. It is best that the manager is chosen by them. Antony is welcome to apply for the position when we ask for applications.”
Her statements naturally drew much flak from many observers who felt that she had made the decision too hastily and her rash actions put an unnecessary dampener on the joyous occasion of Singapore winning its first Olympic medal in 48 years.
But the story does not end there.
On Monday, in a very shocking about turn, Lee Bee Wah told TODAY newspaper, “I’m not sacking anybody … His contract expires on Aug 31, and before the Beijing Olympics, SSC had discussed facilitating his return and I said I had no objection. It has nothing to do with the Gao Ning incident.”
Her latest position is in total contradiction to all of the previous press reports on this issue.
She even went further, saying, “I didn’t say that Antony and the coach will be sacked … I feel that it’s all been blown out of proportion and now the damage is really terrible … I don’t want to be entangled in this whole issue. We have to move on to the bigger picture that STTA is working towards.”
Why the backtracking and the flip-flopping? Did Lee Bee Wah suddenly regret what she did and decided to change her stand. If so, why doesn’t she just issue an official retraction of her previous position rather than make it seem that the media mis-reported her?
And now, after all the damage is done, Lee Bee Wah says we have to move on to the bigger picture. It’s a little hard to do so when STTS has a big flip-flopper breathing down its neck.
