Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: Sir, I have spoken extensively in this House on the topic of Singapore football. This was the focus of my speech during a Motion on sporting excellence which I filed in July 2023 alongside my colleague Assoc Prof Jamus Lim.
From July 2023 until now, our national football team has won matches against Guam twice as well as Taiwan once and were defeated by Tajikistan, South Korea and Thailand respectively. We have also appointed a new coach, Tsutomu Ogura, who will replace his countryman, who was sacked after a string of disappointing results. I would like to know if MCCY is privy to what targets FAS has set for Mr Ogura in the short, intermediate and long term.
Sir, the Football Association of Singapore is one of the many national sports associations (NSAs) that receive funding from the Government via Sport Singapore. In 2017, my colleague Mr Pritam Singh had asked a Parliamentary Question about how the Government exercised oversight over how monies are used by the NSAs. I would like to seek an update from MCCY on the current policies on what are the safeguards in place to prevent any misallocation or misuse of public funds from happening in our NSAs. I would also like to know what is the framework for determining how much funding each NSA gets and what benchmarks are put in place to determine whether an NSA is performing its function in a satisfactory manner. How much weight is placed on success and victories in tournaments and competitions?
To be clear, Sir, I am not saying that sporting success is the only or most important measure in determining if an NSA is performing well. Rather, I believe that it is also in the public interest that senior appointments in NSAs are also carried out in a way that ensures that the best available person for the job is hired, especially since public monies are involved.
On a related note, I would like to know how much has been spent on the Unleash the Roar project to date and what are the key milestones which have been reached.
Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth
6 March 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2391
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 