Singapore table tennis body refutes allegations by SEAP Games gold medallist
The Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) has refuted on Thursday (27 September) what it deems as “serious untrue statements” in a Facebook post by a former Southeast Asian Peninsular Games gold medallist on its recent bi-annual general meeting (BGM) and management committee elections.
Tan Kai Kok, 66, won the men’s doubles gold with Tan Khong Hong at the 1971 SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur. He wrote in a 2,328-character Chinese Facebook post on 16 September detailing the behind-the-scenes happenings of the 15 September elections, which pitted a team led by incumbent president Ellen Lee against a challenging team led by Dr Toh Kian Lam.
It was the first time in at least 10 years that the leadership of the sport has been contested, and Lee won the elections over Toh, a former national youth paddler, to lead a management committee and serve for a third term as STTA president. She was elected unopposed during her previous two terms in 2014 and 2016.
STTA said in a media statement that the Facebook post by Tan, who is also a former coach of Asean Para Games gold medallist Jason Chee, contains “a number of serious falsehoods”, and that it “generally disagrees” with Tan’s allegations in his post:
Tan wrote that Toh was forced to resign from his position as a grassroots leader. STTA said that this allegation is untrue and baseless.
Tan wrote that Lee made use of her power as incumbent president to recruit the nine new members. STTA said that Lee did not abuse her power, and all the STTA members had joined in accordance with its constitution.
Tan wrote that, according to the STTA constitution, the new members have to undergo a one-year probation period before they become full members with voting rights. However, this probation period was waived by Lee to allow the new members to vote at the BGM. STTA refuted this allegation, saying that there is no provision for any mandatory or minimum probation period in the constitution, and that ordinary members may apply in writing to STTA for full membership.
Tan wrote that several members of Team 3H, Toh’s challenging team, were investigated by the authorities. STTA said that if Tan is insinuating that Lee had mobilised such investigations in response to Team 3H’s decision to stand for elections, then his allegation is baseless and false.
Tan wrote that Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Grace Fu, and former STTA president Lee Bee Wah had helped Lee to win the elections by applying undue pressure on Team 3H’s members. STTA said that this is an unsubstantiated and false allegation.
Tan wrote that Team 3H members were separated and prevented from communicating among themselves during the elections. STTA said that this is baseless and false, and Lee did accede to a “timeout” request by Team 3H for discussion during the BGM.
Tan wrote that the voting procedures for the elections were changed without prior notice and that the “show of hands” method of voting was arbitrarily used to forcefully pass the change. STTA said that this is untrue and added that, while Team 3H had disputed the election procedure for the management committee, it did not object to a “show of hands” to vote on the motion to adopt the procedure. The motion was passed by a majority of the members, and Team 3H subsequently participated in the elections.
STTA stated that the BGM and the elections were legitimately and validly carried out, in accordance with the provisions of its constitution.
Table tennis is a popular sport in Singapore, and the country’s national paddlers have regularly won medals at major sports events, including the Summer Olympics. During the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta in August, Singapore earned a bronze medal via women’s singles player Yu Mengyu.
Yahoo News Singapore has reached out to Tan for comment.
