<TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>5:33 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>33266.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>May 16, 2010
The Sunday profile: Lee Bee Wah
'I am not a quitter'
Lee Bee Wah to run for STTA presidency again because of 'unfinished business'
<!-- by line -->By Lin Xinyi
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One of Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah's targets is to produce a local paddler who is good enough to compete at the Olympics. --ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
View more photos http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20100516/ST_16025310.jpg
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http://www.straitstimes.com/Sports/Story/STIStory_527178.html
Just two months as Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president, and already a few members of the public were calling for her to step down.
But Ms Lee Bee Wah refused to budge.
'I'm not a quitter,' she told The Sunday Times last week in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where she watched the national women's team undergo centralised training.
And as she nears the end of her first two-year term as the chief of Singapore's most successful sport, she said she still has unfinished business.
Confirming that she will run for the presidency at the STTA's biennial general meeting in July, she explained: 'I would like to see a local paddler compete at the Olympics.'
Grooming local talent is a major component of the engineer's blueprint for the sport, even if it means starting with five-year-old paddlers.
Already, her brainchild, the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergarten programme, has reached out to more than 1,000 paddlers from 46 PCF kindergartens in 12 constituencies.
(Kojakbt: from info, this is a political move on her part to score points with her masters... notice that she only deals with PAP kindergartens)
A Singaporean, Isabelle Li, now tops the ITTF Global Junior Circuit girls' standings. The Youth Olympic Games medal hopeful, 15, has six junior singles titles to her name.
Along the way, the women's team, which earned Singapore's first Olympic medal in 48 years at Beijing 2008, have consolidated their position as the world's best behind China by finishing runners-up at the Asian Championships and World Team Cup last year.
Yet, two incidents have threatened to define Ms Lee's tenure: The Gao Ning saga in August 2008, and the Liu Guodong controversy in May last year.
Soon after Singapore's top male paddler Gao was left without a coach to guide him in his round of 32 defeat by Tan Ruiwu at the Beijing Games, Ms Lee revealed that then-team manager Antony Lee's services would no longer be needed.
She added that former national head coach Liu's fate would be decided by a coaching committee.
The timing was controversial. Some felt the celebratory mood following the women's team silver had been dampened.
Nine months later, Liu was not among the Coach of the Year nominees for the 2009 Singapore Sports Awards. The coach made his unhappiness clear and public.
In hindsight, would Ms Lee have done anything differently?
'I would have said less,' she said with a hearty laugh that belied the pain she went through during the controversies. 'But I've always been very straightforward. That's just me.'
She admitted that those moments were some of the hardest of her life.
It was tougher than the time her parents, both rubber tappers in Malacca, asked her to stop school when she was just Primary 5.
They needed her help to provide for her six siblings.
Ms Lee did not quit school. Instead, she gave tuition and worked part-time in a brick factory and a rubber plantation.
'All that was a challenge but I still felt in control,' said the 49-year-old.
Even when she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003, she did not feel as low as she had felt during the initial table tennis controversy.
'The news of the cancer was very shocking... it woke me up,' said Ms Lee, who had 22cm of her colon removed.
The cancer is in remission, and she appreciates the support from her engineer husband Soh Chee Hiang, 51; son Xin Ren, 16; and daughter Xin Yuan, 18.
'I could deal with it quietly with my family, whereas the saga was very stressful because a lot of people were talking about it.
'I didn't expect such strong feelings (from the public).
(Kojakbt: That is to say, she doesn't give a fark about the public...)
'I felt misunderstood but I couldn't say why. There are too many things I can't say.'
Ms Lee has always maintained that the public did not know the full picture to make a balanced judgment.
She declined to elaborate but, for the first time, she hinted at some of the problems she faced at the start of her tenure as president.
Among them was the STTA's poor financial state.
'There was no reserve,' she said. 'There was about $100,000 left, which was just enough for operations.'
The new management also inherited a contract signed with Liu, which included a $200,000 bonus for delivering Olympic silver.
'We weren't about to defer what was promised to him,' she said. 'But I had wondered - how were we going to pay?'
Today, she said, the STTA is very much in the black.
Much of the turnaround is down to the contributions made by sponsors and from fund-raising.
In January last year, the STTA held its inaugural fund-raising dinner and collected more than $1 million.
(Kojakbt: If I recalled, Pinky donated $500K)
'People told me that I was crazy to want to do fund-raising during that economic climate,' she said. 'In truth, it was a great team effort.'
Despite her critics, Ms Lee has never worried about being ousted.
'I've never feared for my political career,' said the first-term Member of Parliament (Ang Mo Kio GRC) .
'When my service is needed, I'm happy to serve. If there's a better candidate, I'll be thankful for the opportunity I was given, and I'll go and play more golf.
'But I believe that one day, people will be able to see what we've done.'
Next up for the national paddlers is the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow, where she has set the team the target of at least silver.
After that, it is not just one but two medals at the 2012 London Olympics.
Ambitious, yes.
But Ms Lee insisted: 'That is another one of my targets. Until we've achieved them, my job is not complete yet.'
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The Sunday profile: Lee Bee Wah
'I am not a quitter'
Lee Bee Wah to run for STTA presidency again because of 'unfinished business'
<!-- by line -->By Lin Xinyi
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
http://www.straitstimes.com/Sports/Story/STIStory_527178.html
Just two months as Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president, and already a few members of the public were calling for her to step down.
But Ms Lee Bee Wah refused to budge.
'I'm not a quitter,' she told The Sunday Times last week in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where she watched the national women's team undergo centralised training.
And as she nears the end of her first two-year term as the chief of Singapore's most successful sport, she said she still has unfinished business.
Confirming that she will run for the presidency at the STTA's biennial general meeting in July, she explained: 'I would like to see a local paddler compete at the Olympics.'
Grooming local talent is a major component of the engineer's blueprint for the sport, even if it means starting with five-year-old paddlers.
Already, her brainchild, the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergarten programme, has reached out to more than 1,000 paddlers from 46 PCF kindergartens in 12 constituencies.
(Kojakbt: from info, this is a political move on her part to score points with her masters... notice that she only deals with PAP kindergartens)
A Singaporean, Isabelle Li, now tops the ITTF Global Junior Circuit girls' standings. The Youth Olympic Games medal hopeful, 15, has six junior singles titles to her name.
Along the way, the women's team, which earned Singapore's first Olympic medal in 48 years at Beijing 2008, have consolidated their position as the world's best behind China by finishing runners-up at the Asian Championships and World Team Cup last year.
Yet, two incidents have threatened to define Ms Lee's tenure: The Gao Ning saga in August 2008, and the Liu Guodong controversy in May last year.
Soon after Singapore's top male paddler Gao was left without a coach to guide him in his round of 32 defeat by Tan Ruiwu at the Beijing Games, Ms Lee revealed that then-team manager Antony Lee's services would no longer be needed.
She added that former national head coach Liu's fate would be decided by a coaching committee.
The timing was controversial. Some felt the celebratory mood following the women's team silver had been dampened.
Nine months later, Liu was not among the Coach of the Year nominees for the 2009 Singapore Sports Awards. The coach made his unhappiness clear and public.
In hindsight, would Ms Lee have done anything differently?
'I would have said less,' she said with a hearty laugh that belied the pain she went through during the controversies. 'But I've always been very straightforward. That's just me.'
She admitted that those moments were some of the hardest of her life.
It was tougher than the time her parents, both rubber tappers in Malacca, asked her to stop school when she was just Primary 5.
They needed her help to provide for her six siblings.
Ms Lee did not quit school. Instead, she gave tuition and worked part-time in a brick factory and a rubber plantation.
'All that was a challenge but I still felt in control,' said the 49-year-old.
Even when she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003, she did not feel as low as she had felt during the initial table tennis controversy.
'The news of the cancer was very shocking... it woke me up,' said Ms Lee, who had 22cm of her colon removed.
The cancer is in remission, and she appreciates the support from her engineer husband Soh Chee Hiang, 51; son Xin Ren, 16; and daughter Xin Yuan, 18.
'I could deal with it quietly with my family, whereas the saga was very stressful because a lot of people were talking about it.
'I didn't expect such strong feelings (from the public).
(Kojakbt: That is to say, she doesn't give a fark about the public...)
'I felt misunderstood but I couldn't say why. There are too many things I can't say.'
Ms Lee has always maintained that the public did not know the full picture to make a balanced judgment.
She declined to elaborate but, for the first time, she hinted at some of the problems she faced at the start of her tenure as president.
Among them was the STTA's poor financial state.
'There was no reserve,' she said. 'There was about $100,000 left, which was just enough for operations.'
The new management also inherited a contract signed with Liu, which included a $200,000 bonus for delivering Olympic silver.
'We weren't about to defer what was promised to him,' she said. 'But I had wondered - how were we going to pay?'
Today, she said, the STTA is very much in the black.
Much of the turnaround is down to the contributions made by sponsors and from fund-raising.
In January last year, the STTA held its inaugural fund-raising dinner and collected more than $1 million.
(Kojakbt: If I recalled, Pinky donated $500K)
'People told me that I was crazy to want to do fund-raising during that economic climate,' she said. 'In truth, it was a great team effort.'
Despite her critics, Ms Lee has never worried about being ousted.
'I've never feared for my political career,' said the first-term Member of Parliament (Ang Mo Kio GRC) .
'When my service is needed, I'm happy to serve. If there's a better candidate, I'll be thankful for the opportunity I was given, and I'll go and play more golf.
'But I believe that one day, people will be able to see what we've done.'
Next up for the national paddlers is the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow, where she has set the team the target of at least silver.
After that, it is not just one but two medals at the 2012 London Olympics.
Ambitious, yes.
But Ms Lee insisted: 'That is another one of my targets. Until we've achieved them, my job is not complete yet.'
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