There’s just no end to the xenophobic paranoia of some people here, and it’s baffling the parents of uprising local athlete Joseph Schooling — who some netizens have called a foreign talent.
The 19-year-old swimmer recently made headlines for clinching gold, silver and bronze medals for Singapore in the 2014 Asian Games, ending a 24-year dry-spell of medals in male swimming, in addition to setting a new Asian Games record with his 100m butterfly stroke performance.
Despite making Singapore proud and holding the flag high in Incheon, South Korea where the competition is still ongoing, a large amount of comments sprouted online questioning his legitimacy as true blue Singaporean based on his vaguely caucasian look and his clear American accent.
His father, Colin Schooling has come out and hit back at the criticisers by declaring on video in old Malay “Nama saya Colin Schooling, anak berna Singapura” (My name is Coling Schooling, a true son of Singapore). It’s a short but powerful statement that proves once and for all that the Schooling family are Singaporeans, born and bred.
The grandfather of 66-year-old Schooling was a British army officer stationed here, and married a local Portuguese-Eurasian. Joseph Schooling’s mother hails from Ipoh and has lived here for over 30 years. His accent is the result of training and studying in the United States for five years.
Now that there’s no questioning to the Schooling family’s loyalty to Singapore, young Joseph appeared again in the headlines; this time for allegedly sneaking out of the athlete’s village in Incheon for some celebratory drinks. But hey, give the man a break, he deserves it.
Photo: Facebook
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Commonwealth Games: Singapore confident of topping in table tennis
There’s just no end to the xenophobic paranoia of some people here, and it’s baffling the parents of uprising local athlete Joseph Schooling — who some netizens have called a foreign talent.
The 19-year-old swimmer recently made headlines for clinching gold, silver and bronze medals for Singapore in the 2014 Asian Games, ending a 24-year dry-spell of medals in male swimming, in addition to setting a new Asian Games record with his 100m butterfly stroke performance.
Despite making Singapore proud and holding the flag high in Incheon, South Korea where the competition is still ongoing, a large amount of comments sprouted online questioning his legitimacy as true blue Singaporean based on his vaguely caucasian look and his clear American accent.
His father, Colin Schooling has come out and hit back at the criticisers by declaring on video in old Malay “Nama saya Colin Schooling, anak berna Singapura” (My name is Coling Schooling, a true son of Singapore). It’s a short but powerful statement that proves once and for all that the Schooling family are Singaporeans, born and bred.
The grandfather of 66-year-old Schooling was a British army officer stationed here, and married a local Portuguese-Eurasian. Joseph Schooling’s mother hails from Ipoh and has lived here for over 30 years. His accent is the result of training and studying in the United States for five years.
Now that there’s no questioning to the Schooling family’s loyalty to Singapore, young Joseph appeared again in the headlines; this time for allegedly sneaking out of the athlete’s village in Incheon for some celebratory drinks. But hey, give the man a break, he deserves it.
Photo: Facebook
Read Also:
Commonwealth Games: Singapore confident of topping in table tennis