The $traits Times (24 Oct 2008) - Fancy Setting, Worthless Degrees - The $traits Times (24 Oct 2008) - I Was Misled: Singapore MP
From the Mas Selamat escape from the toilet at Whitley Road Detention Centre to the attempted escape by Jamaluddin Salam and Salman Abu Samah from the subordinate courts to the smuggling by Dave Teo Ming of the SAR-21 assault rifle out of camp (Mandai) and ending up in Orchard Road, we now have an ex-Minister of State for Education duped into attending the graduating ceremony of a unaccredited degree mill as Guest of Honour, complete with speech and all.
It can't get better than this.
On one hand, I feel sorry for the bloke as he was personally invited by one of his grassroot leaders and the invitation letter came complete with letterheads, Los Angeles address and all.
Had it been any other MP, it would have been viewed slightly less significant but the "Ministry of State for Education" on his CV proved to be most ironic. Oh and did I mentioned that he was a President's Scholar?
I guess only in Singapore, the word "scholar" has both good and bad connotations. I wonder why.
On the other hand, surely a simple phone call to his ex-place of work i.e. Ministry of Education would have yielded the discovery of the bogus status of this "University"?
Mr Chan entered parliament under the GRC led by Prof Jayakumar and if anyone would have guessed, he entered unopposed. However, he did redeemed himself in the next two elections by standing alone to contest the Joo Chiat SMC and won by impressive margins.
Come next election where I think he should run again as an incumbent. This embarrassing episode is sure to be dug up again and fling right at his face. I wonder what the impact would be in terms of votes?
In my earlier article when I said that "there isn't any solid incumbents to really speak of these days", I was referring to this.
Somehow, I keep getting this feeling that our current crop of MPs came into parliament too easily and again, I am referring to the ills of the GRC concept, although political apathy of Singaporeans is also a major contributing factor.
When something comes to you without you really working hard for it, you not only don't treasure it, you take it for granted. I am sure many would agree that our old guards are much better in terms of calibre.
Why? Because they really worked hard to get Singapore to where it is today. From Lee Kuan Yew to Goh Keng Swee to Toh Chin Chye to Edmund Barker. Can you even name one of the current generation of MPs who is anyway near what they have accomplished?
So anyway, come this next election, I am curious how this episode will affect Mr Chan's candidacy, if at all. Mind you, the people are going to be less politically apathetic this time round.
Image Credit: http://news.asiaone.com
- Voxeros
1. Pam left...
Friday, 24 October 2008 5:44 pm
oh dear........ 2. JayWalk left...
Friday, 24 October 2008 10:22 pm ::
Pam: Yeah. It kinda sucks to be him right now. 3. naeboo left...
p/s: i don't like the doing the math when commenting at ur blog
Saturday, 25 October 2008 2:14 pm :: http://naeboo.liquidblade.com
how the fuck even unaccredited degree operate in a country without being known? p/s: i don't like the doing the math when commenting at ur blog
Saturday, 25 October 2008 4:44 pm ::
naeboo: I am guessing that they register as a University agency here which is not against the law. And since it is just a representative office, there is no requirement for them to submit their credentials to MOE for verification. No like the math? Aww..... too difficult for you? :P
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