Singapore — It looks like World Badminton champ isn’t just a hero to Singaporeans but is turning out to be greatly admired in other parts of South East Asia as well.
While he’s now a Singaporean citizen, 24-year-old Loh was born in Penang, making it unsurprising for Malaysians to take pride in him as well.
As if that weren’t enough, Loh has won hearts in Indonesia as well, ever since he started tweeting in Indonesian. A Jan 13 South China Morning Post report asked if the badminton champion “has cracked the code to Indonesian hearts?”
Penang roots
Born in Penang in 1997, the athlete arrived in Singapore at the age of 13 because of a scholarship from Singapore Sports School.
His older brother, Loh Kean Hean, came to Singapore in 2009, the year before he did, and is also a badminton player—a doubles specialist who represents the country in tournaments.
The brothers later became Singapore citizens, with Mr Loh quoted as saying, “I am honoured to wear the Singapore flag on my chest.”
Nevertheless, he’s still quite understandably considered by Malaysians as somewhat of a native son.
No looking back
In 2017, just after losing a match to Malaysia’s Soong Joo Ven, Loh said he had no regrets about becoming a Singaporean citizen.
“I do not regret this decision. They (Singapore) have given me all the support I needed since I continued my studies there when I was 13,” said Loh.
“I don’t deny that my coach in Malaysia had taken care of me and developed my skills; however, I have long studied and adapted to life in Singapore.”
From Indonesia with love
Just this week, Loh, who received no cash prizes for his world championship win, was given a donation of S$200,000 by the family foundation of Indonesian tycoon Bachtiar Karim.
Speaking for the Karim Family Foundation, his daughter Cindy Karim said they were “inspired” by the humility and the perseverance that Loh, 24, showed, after having won the world championship last month in Huelva, Spain.
“We hope to inspire future Loh Kean Yews in Singapore,” she added.
The SCMP report pointed out that Loh may have won Indonesians over when he started tweeting in Bahasa Indonesia while participating in the Indonesian Masters and Indonesian Open tournament late last year.
In one tweet he posted a video of a box of cakes he received from the world’s number two men’s doubles player, Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan. He captioned it “mantap” (delicious) and can be heard saying “gila” (crazy) in an Indonesian accent.
Mantappppppp pic.twitter.com/WJINTDW6fb
— Loh Kean Yew (@reallohkeanyew) November 16, 2021
Some days later he tweeted a photo of bebek goreng (duck with samba), and wrote “Gila gila gila, paha ini enak bngt (Crazy crazy crazy, these thighs are so delicious.”
“Another month or two here and you’ll be using conversational indonesian like a true local,” a netizen tweeted back.
https://twitter.com/overcutdropshot/status/1463495809094217738
SCMP also quoted Loh as being thankful for the donation from the Karim Family Foundation.
“There are too many people who have helped me in my life and I can never thank them enough. Without all the support and encouragement, I wouldn’t be standing on the podium,” he said.
The world champ is currently competing at the India Open, which kicks off the 2022 BWF World Tour season.
Loh won his first game on Tuesday (Jan 11), emerging victorious over Canada’s Sheng Xiaodong 16-21, 21-4, 21-13.
On Thursday (Jan 13), he won over Malaysia’s Soong 21-12, 21-12 and advanced to the quarter-finals, where he is set to face Russia’s Sergey Sirant on Friday. /TISG
Read also: ‘We hope to inspire future Loh Kean Yews’: Karim family’s $200,000 ‘thank you’ to champ