Malaysia Star, 30 Mar 2013Paying high salaries to scholars and top professionals to entice them to serve as PAP – and Singapore’s – leaders has long been Lee’s strategy.
In the past it had worked but less so in today’s changed environment
Increasingly, when trouble struck, some of the capable people are often seen as arrogant, out of touch with the common folk or unable to empathise with them.
Few scholars or rich PAP leaders are able to really see themselves as elected servants of the people.
People are beginning to question the effectiveness of choosing scholars and other professional elites for political office – often over party veterans.
They are known as “parachute leaders”, people who were taken from army barracks or an executive suite and turned into leaders sometimes without a real electoral fight.
“Without any effort to fight and win elections the hard way, some elites become distant and unable to resolve problems of the commoners,” said an analyst. Full story
