I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read the headline of the above article on the Straits Times dated 31 March 2009.
On the onset, please do not mistaken me for being disrespectful to our leaders. Nothing against them, but I am merely flabbergasted by the use of ‘depth of leadership’ here.
In my personal opinion, depth is built over many years of trials and challenges to mould a leader’s character, capacity and competence.
In Singapore, it seems our leaders are identified and measured mainly by their academic achievements over the ‘trials and challenges’ in our educational system.
Take a look at Barack Obama, Mahatma Ghandi, Lee Kuan Yew, Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King, they started right from the bottom and fought courageously to earn the spot on the top.
Honestly, what credible and proven track records are there in our present leaders to measure their quality of depth? And what depth of leadership do they exhibit when everything is so conveniently handed to them?
Andrew: Inside & Insights 
perhaps track record of being consistent?
I cant say much myself about the politics in Singapore, but to me it appears that Singapore has been a very safe and well guarded country thus far. Some credit must go to the government no?
Take a look at the countries and eras Obama, Mandela and even LKY come from. They had to start from the bottom, because they were at the pits. There were nowhere to go but up.
But in Singapore the government is a double edged sword. They regulate the country, but there are no successors in sight. Maybe the latter is not trying enough?
denise:
I like the way you write. Thanks for your views 🙂
I guess our leaders in general are brought up in a “too safe and comfortable” environment with their massive paychecks that they become toothless tigers. No bite at all.
Not sure if this is a ploy from the top echelon to de-tooth any threats to their reign.
Because it is when you are hungry that you hunt and grow up. In our case, leaders rarely need to hunt since almost everything is served on a platter.
But that’s another theory all together.
Here’s an interesting submission from our Finance Minister, Mr Tharman in regards to Singapore system as an exam meritocracy do not exactly produce world-beaters in abundance: http://kentridgecommon.com/?p=2047