Make home ground advantage count at SEA Games

Question

Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether he can provide an update on the progress of preparations for the 28th Southeast Asian Games to be held in June 2015; (b) what is the number of sports that will be featured; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider having a special exhibition accessible to SEA Games participants and the public that showcases Singapore's relations with its ASEAN neighbours over the past 50 years.

Response

1. Minister Lawrence Wong: We started planning for the Games three years ago, and preparations for the event are currently in full swing and progressing well. Over the past few weeks, we have carried out several events at the various competition venues to test run our systems and processes.

2. Based on the experience of past SEA Games, the focus during the Games tends to be on the athletes and the competitions.  And so, for this reason, we do not think it will be so useful to have a dedicated exhibition on Singapore's relations with our ASEAN neighbours.  Instead, we will find different ways to highlight this throughout the Games, for example, it can be done in the opening ceremony or it can be done through social media platforms, where you can promote ASEAN and our relations in the ASEAN.

3. The SEA Games itself in Singapore will feature 36 sports and around 400 events, as well as about 10,000 athletes and officials. We are also planning to field Team Singapore's largest ever contingent, with 748 athletes representing Singapore in the games.

4. Our athletes are training intensively. I have spoken to many of them, and they have told me that they are determined to do their best and to do Singapore proud. In the preparatory and qualifying competitions in the run up to the Games, many athletes have posted outstanding performances, achieved new personal bests and broken long-standing national records.

5. What remains is for Singaporeans to come forward to attend the Games with family and friends to cheer for our Team Singapore athletes. While being gracious hosts to our Southeast Asian friends, let's also make the home ground advantage for Team Singapore count by being there to cheer our athletes on. At the end of the day, it is the support and encouragement of all Singaporeans that will determine whether we have an extraordinary Games, one that is worthy of our Golden Jubilee.