Singapore National Games – ‘Pian Ah Peh’

Singapore’s masters athletes signed up in full force to run in the Singapore National Games 2018. Everyone was there for a bit of fun and camaraderie. Nothing much was expected except for the individual athletes to try to do their best for a PB or to test their timings.
 
In the course of two weekends at the Home of Athletes in Kallang and Bishan Stadium there were a few pleasant surprises for the ah pehs and the ah mahs participating in the competition.
 
The first surprise came when they were told to open a PayNow account as all winners of individual events would be receiving a cash award. Wow, that’s a nice thought regardless of the amount. All the ah pehs and ah mahs happily gave their names and ICs/mobile numbers and agreed to register for their respective PayNow accounts to await the cash awards. Oh, they knew that no cash awards would be given to individual event winners except for overall winners of the respective age groups. That was stated in the rules and regulation of the Game.
 
The next pleasant surprise was when uncle and team won the 4x100m relay event. Again we were told that we would be receiving a cash award which we knew the rules and regulations said no. Only winners of events with 4 teams or more would be entitled to cash awards. We took it with half belief. The cash award was confirmed during the prize presentation ceremony when a letter stating the cash award in black and white was given to us. Too good to believe but it was a nice feeling.
 
The organizers cannot be so stupid to make such mistakes, to tell us that we would receive cash awards and even presented us a congratulatory letter with the amount stated. We were all very happy for such surprises. No one is complaining for sure. How can a nation going to turn itself into a smart city make blunders by saying one thing and doing another? We went home and registered for our PayNow accounts and very hopeful that we would be richer by a few dollars.
 
We waited and waited but nothing was deposited into our PayNow accounts. Then we received confirmation that all the pleasant surprises were just pleasant surprises and too good to be true. The only thing that we don’t believe is that the organizers could made such elementary mistakes and telling us things that should not be. This could happen in third world countries but not in a first world smart nation. We are going to turn the city into a smart nation. It is not that we were hard up for the few dollars that we knew we were not entitled. But the false hope was unnecessary. Was the false hope a gimmick to con the ah pehs and ah mahs to open PayNow accounts that otherwise they would find no reason to do so? Is this another ‘pain ah peh’ exercise? The mistakes were totally unwarranted. The organizers knew the rules, could not be so blur or so stupid to commit such basic errors right?
 
The ah pehs kena ‘pian’ another time. Or at least the ah pehs in my relay team were. We were presented medals for winning our events. We were at the podium and Kunalan the sprint legend shook our hands and placed the medals over our necks and photographs were taken. After the presentation ceremony we were told to return the medals. Why? Because nothing was inscribed on the medals. The medals were blank, no description of which event they were meant for. They promised to call us to return the medals to us after inscribing the events on them.
 
Three weeks have gone by and we even asked them what had happened to our medals. So far no reply. It seems that no one bothers after the end of the Game. It’s over. Let’s move on. We paid to run in the competition and the least we could expect is our medals. Did we kena conned again a third time? Cannot be lah. I think they are running short of metals and have to return to the mines to get some to mint into medals. And this would take time especially if the metal is coming from Australia or some foreign land. And it would take more time to print the words on the medals before delivering the medals to us. 3 weeks after the event is a short time. Just be patient. The Ah pehs must wait for their medals, hopefully they will arrive before the next National Games in 2019.
 
I think the Indonesians did a better job in Jakarta in organizing the Asian Games. At least the winners got their medals on the same day, after the event. Some, like the case of the swimmers, had their names printed on a certificate on the spot. That’s efficiency. How smart are we as a smart nation? Or is it smart nation but stupid people?