PM Lee said: “For the opposition, it’s a change – one scholar or two you think “wow” this is a luminous transformation. Well, it is a significant development … but finally let’s look at the person, not what degrees he has, but what he is able to do for Singapore.  “I can tell you, we interview many scholars and each time we field a few of them. And we interview other people too and we often field people who are not scholars. It is good to see it in perspective.

Source: CNA

PM Lee was responding to a question at the Singapore Perspectives Forum on recent reports about ex-government scholars joining the opposition.  Mr Tony Tan Lay Thiam and his wife, Ms Hazel Poa, both 39, are former government scholarship holders who have become members of the opposition Reform Party. They currently run a chain of tuition centres.

PM also said: “We hope that anybody who enters politics is somebody of not just ability but integrity and commitment. These are young people who have got good records academically and been in the civil service.”

The first sentence is fair, and logical.  But when taken together with the second, it appears to suggest that Tony and Hazel only have good academic records to show for.  Did PM just take an oh-so-subtle dig at the couple?  Could integrity and commitment be wanting in these 2 ex-scholars?  Well, perhaps so from the perspective of the PAP.  The duo left the service (’no commitment’) and perhaps broke a bond (’lack of steadfast adherence to the civil service ethnical and moral codes’).  

 PM goes on to say:  “We wish them well, but we hope Singaporeans will judge individuals like that as rigorously as they would judge individuals who join the PAP side. In other words, it’s not just what degree you have, but what sort of person are you and what can you do.”

Well, we will certainly do that and maybe we can do better than the PAP.  Chances are, they never thought the 2 would leave the service, or even join an opposition party.  To clarify, the duo’s actions do not disqualify from being good politicians.  We should applaud them for doing what they thought was right. 

Now the ball is in their court.  And ours.  We are watching you, Mr Tan and Miss Poa. 

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