Singapore's population is small. Malay population only 15%, much smaller, but most of our grassroots players are Malay. So our talent pool is very limited.
We need to get the 75% Chinese and 10% Others to play soccer professionally to maximise the talent pool, otherwise Singapore will alway be the whipping boys in regional and international tournaments. Many Chinese families don't approve of their children pursuing soccer seriously, either at an amateur or professional level - we don't see it as a viable career option, unlike the Koreans and Japanese who also have a kiasu Confucian academic culture.
Choo Seng Quee once said that if we can't get the Chinese to play soccer, we'll never make it to the big league. In the old days at least we had the Quah brothers, Lee Bee Seng, Eric Paine, even Lim Tong Hai. Now zilch.