Why didn’t the Olympic torch stop in Singapore?
SINGAPORE: “Why not us, too?” Call it a case of sour grapes or plain curiosity, but television and print images of the Olympic torch coursing through neighbouring countries have caused some people here to scratch their heads and ask: Why didn’t the flame stop by Singapore?
This has been a point of discussion for readers who felt moved to write in to newspapers, for netizens and even executives from the financial industry.
One from Credit Suisse couldn’t resist raising the question during a forum with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earlier this week. “How come the Olympic torch has bypassed Singapore?” the banking executive asked during the dialogue organised by media company Thomson Reuters.
The instant response from Mr Lee, who had up till then been fielding questions related mostly to economic and political matters, replied: “I don’t know.”
When the audience’s laughter died down, Mr Lee continued: “I do not see any significance in it. I don’t think we specifically made a bid for them to come. Neither did we ask them not to come.”
If Singapore had made a request, the sacred flame might have landed here.
The media coordinator of the Beijing Torch Relay Centre told Weekend TODAY, the Omani city of Muscat was the first to ask for the torch to visit — and it got its wish.
However, Singapore’s cultural paucity and political baggage may have also been behind the flame’s no—show here.
Read the full article at Yahoo News:
While I read this, I remembered one of Mr Brown’s Podcast poking fun on the Olympic Torch relay and had even mentioned if the torch really did come to Singapore…it will be a super powerful one….haha The mrbrown show: Singapore contributes to the Olympics
Well, after Mat Salamat dramatic escape I bet Beijing are thinking if the securities here can handle such a high profile torch relay without any incidents. Obviously the security may sigh a big relieve now as they had been doing over time ever since the escape and got lot’s of them guarding small bushes, cemeteries, rampaged through thick undergrowth and small forest for Mat Salamat.
Come to think of it, what will happen if a hoard of tourist starts a “pro-Tibet Independence” protest openly during the relay….will the police deport them all? Most likely they will be “video taped” and potentially have some kind of negative publicity about Singapore laws against open violence free “protest”.
Well, if I am a politician that wants to ensure no negative publicity in Singapore…avoiding hosting the relay may be the best option…but of course this is just a conspiracy theory again…who doesn’t wants more tourist to come to “support” the Olympic Torch relay?
Hopefully it’s not because of China ignoring Singapore because we are just a “red dot”.
