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Leonard Lim
Sports Reporter
Raising the 'Kampung' spirit
January 06, 2009 Tuesday, 06:06 PM
Leonard Lim gives his take on why the Kampung Games is here to stay.
THE Kampung Games - long-time observers of Singapore sport will immediately conjure up images of the South-east Asia Games when this is mentioned. And with good reason. Host countries usually push for the inclusion of "traditional" sports they are strong in, like petanque (throwing small metal balls at a bigger wooden one), arnis (a martial arts event where competitors hit each other with rattan sticks) and shuttle-cock kicking (capteh). These are not in the Asian, Commonwealth or Olympic Games calendar but so what? The hosts are usually strong in such indigenous sports and it can only help boost their overall medal tally and vault them up the standings. Who cares if others says it makes the Games a joke? The "Kampung Games" moniker came to my mind once again when on Sunday, Malaysia's Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob suggested sending second-stringers to the 25th edition of the SEA Games in Laos in December. This, after Laos decided to drop mainstream sports like tenpin bowling and squash - gold medal prospects for Malaysia - in favour of shuttle-cock kicking and fin swimming. A ridiculous move that devalues the SEA Games, Datuk Ismail said, calling the Games a 'circus'. True to a certain extent, for host countries have long pushed for the inclusion of such nonsensical events that masquerade as sports. Still, the Games do hold some relevance, and in a sense beyond a sporting one. First, it is a good training ground even for sports that countries have already reached Asian or world-class levels. Singapore Sailing president Low Teo Ping, for instance, has no qualms about sending his "B" team to the SEA Games, given that the sport has churned out world and Asian champions in the past few years. The SEA Games would help them get used to the pressures of a major meet, before they go on to higher-level events. And for sports like athletics, Singapore is nowhere near the Asian level, so the SEA Games remains the high point for many athletes to aim for in their careers. National 100m record holder Amanda Choo, for instance, was only seventh in the 2007 SEA Games final but set a new national mark in the competition. The biennial Games is also a chance for Asean countries to come together and celebrate the spirit of sport and Asean solidarity. That is why you will notice other Asean countries will close one eye and allow hosts to include a few eyebrow raising sports like fin swimming. The SEA Games also allows athletes of such lesser-known sports a stage to showcase their skills to the region and increase awareness of what they are all about. Say what you will, but the sight of swimmers wearing snorkel masks and fins and racing underwater makes for good entertainment, doesn't it? So a circus it may be, but the Kampung Games is here to stay. Tags: sports 
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Another horrible article!
I notice an increasing tendency for ST columnists to blend their fantastic speculations with news items.
No participating member of the SEA games ever called it "Kampung games" or a circus.
ALL of the "new" games being proposed are NEVER indigenous to one country. Check the rules, please.
Many of these games are in fact very common in South East Asia, except that they are called with different names across nations. Sepak takraw, for example, is in fact a similar form of capteh or sipa. There are small differences, but they are insignificant.
Kali, eskrima, and silat are merely varying styles and weaponry of the same martial art technique practiced by Asian Muslisms.
Their proposed inclusion in the SEA games is never due to one nation's attempt to dominate the sport, but acknowledgement that SEA nations share a common culture and heritage in its practice.
It's written in the charter. Please read it.
"Kampung" when applied to a sport, is deragatory and implies it is not professional. It is a term invented by the Singaporean media, and its use stem from the fact that Singapore does not practice or excel in any of these 'new' games being added to the SEA games.
FYI. Sepak takraw is several levels more advanced than soccer, and Kali is literally the most deadly martial arts in the world.
But for many Singaporeans who have lost their heritage, we simply can't expect them to know or be proud of this.
I don't really see why shuttle **** kicking or arnis or half a dozen other obscure sports are 'a circus'. Athletically speaking, the unfair advantage they give their home region or country is something to consider from an organizer perspective. But...we've all seen that the best way to preserve cultural elements is to make them economically viable.
Arnis, for instance, is actually a martial art. A very intricate and intelligent one. Practiced in the Philippines and in a slightly different form, in Malaysia. The fact that its sport incarnation is not a martial art and doesn't really do a good job of portraying or teaching it is sad, but again, the only way for high level performers/masters of these kinds of arts to keep parts of their culture alive, do what they love for a living and make money off of it is to capitalize the activity.
I think it shows a Western prejudice that the author of this piece automatically accepts ridiculous sports like basketball and (American) football and Tae Kwon Do and sport Judo and Greco/Collegiate wrestling as sports, when they're mostly debased forms of real martial arts or simply icons of Western culture, but rejects those which haven't achieved that status due to an accident of history or a twist of globalization.