Prime
Minister
Where are the potentials?
Political wrier and ex-opposition leader finds it hard to
believe none of the 3.6m Singaporeans is qualified to replace
or succeed Mr. Lee Hsien Loong. Daily SG.
Apr 17, 2008
By
Dr Wong Wee Nam
The Malaysian General Elections has just ended and Abdullah
Badawi has continued as the Prime Minister. But he is now
having problems keeping the job.
This
is because there are many who want to take over. Even Anwar
Ibrahim, who is not even an elected Member of Parliament,
is eyeing the job.
Just
as there are many who had vied for the posts of Menteri
Besar in the State governments, there is no lack of candidates
for the post of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
In the
United Kingdom, when a schoolboy visits 10 Downing Street,
he invariably likes to pose in front of the official residence
of the Prime Minister of Great Britain for a picture.
In other
words, it is a schoolboy’s dream to become the Prime
Minister of Britain. It is not that the job of the Prime
Minister in Great Britain pays very well. It does not.
Compare
to footballers like Christiano Ronaldo or David Beckham,
the Prime Minister’s job is a lowly-paid one. Even
by Singapore’s standards, it is an extremely lowly-paid
job.
The
pay is only a fraction of the salary of a similar position
in Singapore.
Yet
Great Britain, like Malaysia, does not lack candidates for
the position of Prime Minister. In fact, there is even no
lack of candidates for the position of a shadow Prime Minister
on the opposition bench.
No country
in the world has difficulty finding people willing to become
Prime Minister or running for Presidency.
No country
except Singapore, that is. The Straits Times of 2nd April
2008 reads: “PM still looking for his successor”.
Uniquely
Singapore
We must
be in a very unique situation in the world. With a job that
is the highest paid in the world, it is a wonder we are
still looking for a successor.
This
must be the only country in the world where people are very
reluctant to be office-holders. Something must be very,
very wrong – either with the country or with the quality
of our people.
Has
our gene pool become so depleted that we do not now have
capable people to run the country? This cannot be so.
Every
year there are hundreds of students who graduate from our
colleges with straight A’s and S-papers.
Competition
for scholarships and places in the universities is very
keen. In world competitions, our students still come up
top in Mathematics and Science.
Our
students regularly win the Angus Ross Prize for Literature
and the Jessup Cup for mooting. So the quality of our gene
pool is still very good. (--)
Reason
for the problem
(--)
So what is the problem? Why is it so difficult to find someone
to become a Prime Minister in Singapore?
It is
not because Singapore is not ripe for revolution or that
our people are so well-taken care off that we like to leave
governing to others that we are faced with this problem.
If revolution
and economic dissatisfaction are the reasons for people
wanting to become Prime Minister, then all the well-to-do
stable democracies in the world would have difficulty looking
for leaders.
The
reason for the problem is in our culture. In Singapore nobody
is taught from young to covet the job. The political climate
here does not allow anyone to covet the job.
Politics
is not a profession that parents encourage their children
to pursue. (--)
(--)
It can .. be concluded that with the exorbitant salaries
paid to our office-holders, we will one day be bound to
attract mainly extrinsically-motivated people to public
office.
When
that time comes, it would indeed be a sad day for Singapore.
A politician who is not intrinsically motivated will serve
himself first and cannot provide the servant leadership
to serve the people.
When
that day comes, it would be even more difficult to find
a really good person to fill the post of Prime Minister.
A politician led by reward to work cannot be better than
one motivated by altruism to serve.
(Dr.
Wee was once office holder and election candidate for the
opposition National Solidarity Party).
Comments
(Excerpts)
Lucky
Tan said,
Please don’t compare our top leaders with those in
South Korea, Taiwan, Japan etc. These are lowly paid and
never gone through the rigorous selection process with which
we select our leaders.
The PAP has problem finding people because of its stringent
quality control process. Look at PM Lee, can we ever find
someone as good and as qualified as him? I think it is hard.
The PAP had to search very hard and through every segment
of society to discover him. Hence we are lucky to have him
as our leader.
We cannot let our country be run by people who are not carefully
selected through the PAP process. People who just put themselves
up for election as choices for the people tends to be from
the opposition we have to be suspicious of their credentials.
Are they properly groomed for leadership? You can’t
just be the people’s choice just because you have
a burning desire to represent their interests.
That is why Singapore elections are about upgrading - you
elect the best possible upgrading for your estate.
gohysteria
said,
I don’t think there is a dearth of Singaporean talents
who are competent to do the Prime Minister job.
I hope it is the case where the truly talented and competent
cannot find themselves joining the PAP fold and toeing the
party line against their conscience. If so, it is a good
thing for Singapore.
patriot
said,
I once posed the Question whether we have leadership caliber
in .. Singapore.
And the responses were most positive, in fact, many said
that there were many with calibre much better than our present
leaders. Obviously, I felt (feel) very happy.
Let us hope that these .. people will come out to lead us.
Pray it will happen.
the4thwall
said,
I seriously hope that Lucky Tan is being sarcastic, because
if it reflects a true mindset and perspective of your everyday-man
voter, no wonder our politics is such a farce.
http://www.sgpolitics.net/?cat=29
