STTA (Singapore Table Tennis Association) VS Coach Liu

Author: Chua Song Yang Posted under:

As you may know, there was a hot topic recently in the newspaper and the media about the saga between the STTA and Singapore Table Tennis National Coach Liu Guo Dong. On 14th May 2009, the newspaper wrote "Table tennis saga continues with coach Liu getting more support". Now, you maybe curious of what is happening but I assure you that you will have a clearer view of the saga.


The saga started when there was a public debate on Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA)'s decision of not nominating the former Singapore National table tennis Coach Liu Guo Dong for the coach of the year. Despite winning a historical silver medal for Singapore in the Beijing Olympics 2008, Coach Liu Guo Dong is not nominated for the award. This caused the some members of public to feel unfair for Coach Liu Guo Dong as they think that Coach Liu deserves the award for his commitment to Singapore Table Tennis Association by clinging a silver medal for Singapore. He also helped Singapore to end the republic's 48 year Olympics Medal drought. However, STTA did not feel this way. Instead, the chairman of STTA, Ms Lee Bee Wah, said that Coach Liu's integrity and professionalism was in question and thus, she decided not to nominate him for the award. Her view of Coach Liu had become an insult to Coach Liu and caused him to feel unhappy and insulted.


Ms Lee said that Coach Liu was biased to the table tennis men's team and neglected Gao Lin who was one of the table tennis player. She claimed that Coach Liu focused more in the women's team than the men's team. This caused Coach Liu to feel unfair for himself as he feel that it is not true to say so. Hence, Coach Liu wanted to have an explanation from STTA as he felt that the claim by STTA might tanished his reputation.


The STTA could not be reached for comment, but Coach Liu also told the media he plans to meet the association's president over the next few days. And he said if he does not get a clarification, he would consider taking legal action. This caused things to go worse,


Mr Liu said: "She just needs to apologise. I will not ask for trouble. She just needs to clarify her remarks. I have feelings for Singapore."


STTA did not issue any public statements castigating Liu for lacking “professionalism and integrity.” Lee Bee Wah has to answer for her own words. Since she dared to hurl accusations at Liu in public, she must be prepared to substantiate them. Till now, Lee had refused to defend herself or comment further on the matter. Why do you think she is refusing to give any comments?


It is most unacceptable and unbecoming for a leader to walk away and leave her subordinates to clear up the mess she had created herself. This will even caused more problems. She can prevent all this fuss by explaining the whole thing to the media and Coach Liu instead of refusing to give any comments. In addition, she could have easily apologise to Coach Liu for the insult to him. She could have also retracted her statements and then, this whole saga would have been solved so easily.

STTA think they can bully a non-English speaking China coach into submission and let the matter rest. They cannot be more wrong.

It is also pointless for Liu to waste his time meeting STTA if all they want is to save the skin of Lee Bee Wah who continues to hide behind the association.

Coach Liu said: “The least you can do is to not attack me through the press, or to comment that I have moral issues. If it was said on a personal level, I would have dismissed it. But the comments were published in the papers, so you can imagine the harm done to me."


But now the coach has the support of Dr Tan Eng Liang, who had worked closely with him prior to the Beijing Games. Dr Tan does not doubt Liu's professionalism as he had delivered the silver medal for Singapore.


Do you think this whole saga could have been prevented easily if STTA have done what I have earlier mentioned? The moral of the saga is "Always think twice before you act".
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A story that greatly affected my parents' life......

Author: Chua Song Yang Posted under:
Hey everyone, have you ever asked your parents before about their reading habits? Do you know what is their favourite book? Or do you know which book gives your father or mother the greatest impression that changes their reading habits or lifestyles? If you have not done so, try doing so as you will know more about your parents through their favourite books or reading habits.


As for me, I interviewed them about their reading habits and their favourite books and my eyes widened in disbelief as I could not believe their favourite books! My father had told me that when he was a teenager at about my age, he was so addicted to wuxia (martial) novels and comics that his eyes were glued to the books which he had borrowed from his friends. One of the novels which he impressed the most is The Legend of the Condor Heroes. My father said that he loved novels written by Jin Yong who is one of the most influential modern Chinese Language Novelists. His novels were all very exciting and most importantly, Jin Yong's novel are widely range, from wushu to romance. His novels are all so famous that quite a lot of movie companies used the story background for their movies. Artists also drawn out the wuxia novels Jin Yong had written.
The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a story set in the Song Dynasty and it is a novel about the friendship of two young men, Yang Tiexin and Guo Xiaotian who became heroes in their own right as they fought bravely the invading Jin soldiers in the war. They were very good swore brothers and they even swore to each other their unborn children would become either sworn brothers (if both were of the same gender) or be married (if they were of opposite genders). Then, the story focuses on the trials and tribulations of their sons following Guo Xiaotian's death and Yang Tiexin's disappearance. After that, the story tells about Guo Jing who was the son of Guo XiaoTian and Yang Kang. Later, Guo Jing was mentored by the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan in martial arts but he was a slow learner and only managed to master part of the skills he was taught. Yang was mentored by Qiu Chuji of the Quanzhen Sect. Then, the story tells the adventures of the two warriors and the story ended with Yang Guo, who was the son of Yang Kang and would become the protagonist of the sequel novel.
Jin Yong had also written many famous novels which captured a lot of readers' attention from all over the world. Jin Yong's novels includes The Book and the Sword, The Deer and the Cauldron, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain and more...... After interviewing my father, I am so amazed by his favourite novel and started to be interested of them.
If you are also attracted to Jin Yong's wuxia novels, you can visit this website as they have all Jin Yong's interesting, eye-glueing novels :http://www.ccler.com/jinyong/
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Village By The Sea - Character Analysis

Author: Chua Song Yang Posted under:

While you all might be interested of my previous book review on "Village By The Sea", I think the characters in the novel might also capture your attention. In the novel, the characters played an essential, important and vital role as from their roles in the novel, they give readers a better view and understanding of the story background and tell us the themes in the novel. With their roles in the novel, they explain the problems and conflicts going through.



Here are some major characters:


  1. Hari (protagonist of the story)
  • Hari was the older and only son in his family in a fishing village, Thul. Being the only son in his family, he had to work at the fields for his family to earn money even if he was still a child. He had also stopped schooling to work and this caused him to lose his childhood. With his family was dysfunctional, his father was permanently drunk and he could not play his role to work for his family. Hari's mother was also severly ill and could not look after her family. This caused him to bear heavy responsibilites and prematurely saddled with this heavy pressure.



  • Hari is responsible, obedient and knowledgeable as he knows what his family is going through. He knew he had to look after his family when both his parents could not. He also worked in the field at a young age and yet, he did not have any complains about it. He also knew he must quickly find a solution to solve the poverty problems his family was facing. 'He must have a job if he was to find his sisters a way out of this dark, gloomy house and the illness and drunkenness and hopelessness'. This shows that he knew he had to do something to solve his family's problems. In addition, Hari is also obedient. The story mentioned that Hari had listened to his mother and brought his younger siblings, Bela and Kamal.



  • Hari is hardworking, determined and iron-willed to work for his family. To support and earn money for the family, Hari had worked hard in the field. The story mentioned 'He (Hari) was soon sweating in the sun as he bent and pulled and tugged and dug.' In addition, Hari also was determined as he wanted to go to Bombay in search of job to earn more money for his family. He went to Bombay alone with determination to learn to adapt to the changes. Hari also determined to help Bela and Kamal out of this dysfunctional family as the story mentioned "He must have a job if he was to find his sisters a way out of this dark, gloomy house and the illness and the drunkenness and hopelessness that surrounded them like the shadows of the night." Hari was also determined to seek help in Bombay as he said that 'He would have to go to Bombay.'



  • Hari is also worrisome, pessimistic and doubtful about his future. He was unsure whether what he was doing would help his family. The story mentioned 'How? When? That was still not clear to him.' This shows us that Hari did not know what his future would like as he worried about it.



  • Hari was also caring and loving towards his mother and his siblings. While he was away in Bombay, he still did not forget about his family and worried them. This shows that he still cared for his family as the story mentioned 'I will save all my watch money for that (gifts for his siblings in Thul). When he was in Bombay, he remembered his family members. He also wanted to return on Diwalii to reunite with his family which shows his care and concern of his family.



  • Hari is also independent in Bombay and knows how to take good care of himself. He dared to got to Bombay by himself without any familiar faces. This shows he could be independent and do things by himself. He was also capable and independent as he could able work in Jagu's Eating house and My Panwallah's watchmending shop although he did not really
Hari was a reponsible, obedient, knowlegeable, caring and independent village boy from Thul. He had to assume both his parents' roles and work very hard since they could not take care of the family. As a result, Hari was prematurely saddled with these heavy responsibilites.
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