A disappointed parent wrote to the national newspaper, The Straits Times, to highlight that Singapore Airlines sponsored the New Zealand dragon boat team, but not ours.

The young Singaporean dragon boaters recently put together an outstanding performance to win the Junior Dragon Boat Championship in Prague. (Singapore win Junior Dragon Boat Championship)

As you can imagine, the immediate reaction of some Singaporeans is to talk about foreign talents, discrimination, being second class citizens and whatever it is about the Singapore system that they find unfair to them.

However, reality is not so simple.

The decision to sponsor the New Zealand dragon boat team was in all probability a local decision taken in New Zealand by the SIA executives there. Each country manager usually has his own marketing budget and spends the way he sees fit.

Furthermore, sport is a huge part of New Zealand culture and sponsors are usually quick to attach themselves to sports teams and personalities. In Singapore, more people are interested in food than sport.

Also, you seldom hear of SIA sponsoring sports or sponsoring the air tickets of the national teams when they go for trips overseas. In fact, most national and club teams travel by the cheapest available ticket, and that is usually not SIA.

The one sport they sponsor is horse racing in the form of the Singapore Airlines International Cup.

Sure, it is upsetting to think that the ‘national’ airline doesn’t sponsor our athletes. But it is our national airline only in so far as it is a Singaporean company that has done outstandingly well on the global stage, but it didn’t become famous by giving out free tickets to our national athletes.

That’s the reality.