Fears Singapore Government changes will sideline sport

The recent Cabinet reshuffle announced by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has led to fears that the importance of sport is being downgraded by Government.
Under the changes, Singapore's Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) will be restructured into two new ministries as of 1st November.
While both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean have said that the changes will sharpen and "improve synergies across related issues", and have reassured Singaporeans that MCCY will continue to foster the arts and sports, some express worry that under the MCCY, the word 'sport' has been removed from the name of the ministry.
With the city state's $1.87 billion Sports Hub set to open in 2014 and the Republic poised to host the 2015 South East Asian Games, Singapore's Olympic chef-de-mission Jessie Phua expressed her disappointment over the development.
Speaking from London, Phua stated "personally, I am disappointed that we do not have sports specifically spelt out in the ministry's branding (in the reshuffle).
"I certainly hope it doesn't mean the support of sport is going to be weighted down or sidelined.
"We seem to be getting mixed signals all the time - just when things are progressing and hopefully we might have a dedicated ministry of youth and sports, it is personally disappointing to see it parked under another name where we do not have 'sports' distinctively spelt out in the ministry's branding."
Lawrence Wong will continue as Senior Minister of State for Education until November, when he takes over as Acting Minister for MCCY.
Singapore Athletic Association President Tang Weng Fei is also surprised by the latest development, telling local media "I am very surprised and very, very disappointed that 'sports' has been dropped from the original title.
"It gives the impression that the emphasis on sport is not there.
"It was only recently there were suggestions to have a separate ministry for sports and now the name isn't even there.
"I do feel there should be a separate ministry for sport, but if not, at least there must be recognition for sports in the title of the ministry.
"Sport is big business ... we arespending more than $1.8billion in building the new Sports Hub and ... without the recognition for sport, the corporate sponsors may not come in."
However, Deputy Prime Minister Hean concludes "I think it provides better focus for those two broad areas that MCYS used to look after. (After the reshuffle), social and family development will get greater focus, then community, culture and sports will also get greater focus. "