Candidates should be judged on what they can do for S'pore: PM Lee
By S.Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 January 2010 1947 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said an election candidate should be judged not by his academic ability but what he can do for Singapore and has asked Singaporeans to scrutinise opposition candidates as closely as they do People's Action Party candidates.

He was responding to a question at the Singapore Perspectives Forum on recent reports about ex-government scholars joining the opposition.

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.

"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.

"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.

"That is a matter you can scrutinise before they come in and the PAP scrutinise very hard before they can come in. But it has to be scrutinised by the voters after they have come in and make a wise choice whom to commit." - CNA/vm