Wow, Temasek Review calling for boycott now 
YOG food and safety scandals: Parents should pull their children out of YOG till probe is complete
August 19th, 2010
Author: Your Correspondent
The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is not only becoming the biggest “wayang” in the history of the Olympic Games, but Singapore’s biggest “mobilization” exercise as well, with tens of thousands of students and full-time NS men being “called up” to provide FREE labor for the event.
Singapore students are FORCED literally at gun-point by their teachers and schools to support the YOG or risk doing corrective work order or not given their testimonials at the end of the year.
There are reports of primary school students being compelled by their schools to pay a $5 deposit upfront to ensure that they turn up for YOG events without even seeking the consent of their parents.
If the PAP regime wants our children to support its so-called “once in a life-time premier international sporting event”, it should at least take care of them during their volunteer stint.
Unfortunately, our children whom we raise up painstakingly are being treated like SLAVES. Many are forced to work for long hours without rest with some returning homes past midnight everyday on top of their hectic schedules in schools.
They are also given food not fit for human consumption and are expected to stand for long hours under the sun or in the rain to generate fake support for the YOG.
Our students are already stressed up in their school work. Is there really a need to heap more pressure onto them? What have they done to deserve such inhuman treatment from the Singapore YOG Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) and the PAP regime which have shown scant regard for their welfare?
The recent food and safety scandals engulfing the YOG and way they are being handled is clear proof that our children will not be taken care of by SYOGOC and are no more but “stepping stones” for some selfish people.
The mass food poisoning outbreak in which 26 YOG volunteers came down with diarrhoea and abdominal pain occurred last Sunday on 15 August 2010, but SYOGOC chose to keep the matter under wraps till three days later after the news was leaked on the internet instead of informing the other YOG volunteers immediately.
There was not a single word of apology from Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Mr Teo Ser Luck or Mr Ng Ser Miang. None of them even bother to pay a visit to the victims and they still carry on promoting the YOG in the media as if nothing has happened.
At the very least, the other volunteers should be informed of the incident and given the option of bringing home-cooked food to the YOG venues which for some strange reasons, they are not allowed to do so.
It is as if that the health of our children are less important than the good name of the YOG and their lives are dispensable. What’s so great about the YOG that our poor children have to “burn” their Sundays to volunteer their services only to be fed “dirty” or “poisoned” food?
Two days ago, a roof canvas at a YOG venue *SCAPE collapsed under a heavy downpour. Fortunately, there were no volunteers present at the scene. Imagine if your child is there and the canvas with its supporting metal poles were to collapse upon him or her, it would be an absolute disaster.
Roof canvas have been used in Singapore for several years, especially in the HDB heartlands when they are used to provide temporary shelter for Singaporeans listening to “getais” for the annual Hungry Ghost festival. Such an accident is almost never heard of.
On the same day, a temporary platform erected at Toa Payoh stadium collapsed, injuring a CCTV photographer from China in the process. What if your child is standing beneath the platform at that time of the accident?
Till today, SYOGOC has blatantly refused to give the public a proper explanation to the food and safety problems plaguing the YOG and sought to downplay their significance to the extent of censoring the negative news in the press.
The PAP minister in charge of YOG Dr Vivian Balakrishnan claimed that problems will inevitably arise from “massive operations” like the YOG and the investigations into the food poisoning will take “some time.”
With due respect to Dr Vivian, his explanation is hardly a reassurance to anxious parents who are worrying daily about their children who are volunteering at the YOG. It is completely unacceptable for such juvenile lapses in safety to occur in a supposedly international competition. Have we ever heard of such atrocious screw-ups in past Olympic Games held on a much bigger scale than the YOG?
The NEA has conducted inspections at YOG kitchens before and during the Games and has found them to be “compliant with all the stringent guidelines that are set.” Then what is the cause of the food poisoning? Surely the bacteria cannot appear on the food from nowhere?
Since Dr Vivian needs more time to investigate the food poisoning outbreak which means that the cause is still lurking around somewhere, it is only fair and reasonable that parents pull their children out of the YOG till the investigations are completed and proper accounting is done to the public.
Any parent with a modicum of self-respect will pull the children out of the YOG immediately. It is not easy to raise a child in Singapore. Every single child is precious to us. Why should we risk their lives for something which is not even compulsory? What has the YOG got to do with our children? They should be given the option of not participating in the YOG and stay focused on their studies.
If the PAP regime wants our youth to partake in the YOG, then it should adhere strictly to the principles laid out under the Olympic Charter and treat them with some basic decency and respect. From what has transpired so far, it is pretty obvious that our children are being taken for granted by SYOGOC.
The YOG is no more but a “vanity” fair for the PAP regime to show off its “capability” to the world so to attract foreigners to generate more revenue for the state coffers, as admitted by Dr Vivian himself in an interview with BBC News.
Your children will not receive a medal or a letter of appreciation for volunteering at the YOG. Nobody will recognize their efforts and contributions and they will get blamed for all mistakes big and small. Even if the YOG succeeds which appears highly unlikely now, who do you think will get all the credit? Don’t be a fool and let your children become stepping stones for others to advance their careers.
Is it worth it to risk your child’s health and well-being and allow them to be made use of by some unscrupulous individuals to serve their own vested interests? Think about it. You are a citizen of Singapore, not a slave of the PAP regime. You have every right to refuse your child to be involved in the YOG in anyway.
Boycott the YOG, pull your children out of it right now before it is too late. The choice is yours.
