News

In the front row, from left: Ms Stephanie Siow Su Lyn, Mr Wang Chenwei, Ms Quah Ting Wen

In the second row, from left: Mr Navjote Singh Sachdev, Mr Chong Fu Shan, Dr Chor Wei Ping Daniel 

            Six outstanding candidates have been awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship this year for their postgraduate studies. 

2.        The recipients are as follows. 

4.         Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship holders are fully sponsored for their tuition fees and receive an annual allowance of S$50,000 for the duration of their postgraduate studies. They may choose to pursue their postgraduate studies in any country and field of study that best develops their potential as leaders and are expected to continue contributing in their respective fields of work to benefit Singapore and society.

5.         “I have been very fortunate to have had coaches, teachers, teammates, and family who have invested so much in me over the years. Receiving the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship is a deeply humbling and encouraging opportunity for me to continue learning and equipping myself with the expertise to help build environments to enable individuals to grow, perform, and thrive. I hope to honour that trust by contributing meaningfully to the development of communities in Singapore, just as others have so generously done for me,” said Quah Ting Wen, national swimmer, three-time Olympian, and recipient of the 2026 Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship. 

6.        Fellow recipient Wang Chenwei, Composer-in-Residence of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, said, “I am immensely honoured by the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship, which entrusts me to articulate cultural identity and champion transcultural exchange through music. It empowers me to prioritise enduring impact over short-term return in my doctoral research and composition – to rediscover tradition and redefine innovation in pursuit of a genuine Singaporean sound that reflects who we are and who we aspire to be.” 

7.        More details on the scholarship can be found at https://www.psc.gov.sg/scholarships/postgraduate-scholarships/lee-kuan-yew-scholarship.

Three outstanding candidates were awarded the President’s Scholarship on 14 August 2025. They were Miss Nguyen Ngo Khiet Duyen Clarissa, Mr Kaleb Teo Tze Hsiang and Miss Hilary Chee Xin Yi.

Mr Chan Chun Sing, Coordinating Minister for Public Services,

Excellency,

Chairman and Members of the Public Service Commission,

Distinguished Guests

1.       My heartiest congratulations to this year’s President’s Scholarship recipients. My compliments to your parents, school leaders and teachers too, who are here to share this occasion with you.

2.       Each year, the public sector awards many scholarships to promising young Singaporeans who are committing themselves to serving the nation through a career in the public service. Among these, the President’s Scholarship is awarded to those whom the PSC assesses to have the most outstanding package of traits, including all-round excellence and leadership potential.

3.       We live in a world that is fundamentally less stable, and more profoundly uncertain, than seen in decades.

4.       We know that Singapore is especially exposed to these shifts, as a small island state, with no energy or natural resources of its own. But we know too that our future rests not on what we have, but on who we are: our people, our collective aspirations, our drive, and our ability to collaborate both at home in Singapore and with our partners abroad.

5.       The public service, in particular, will have to keep evolving, and responding to both these external challenges and the changing needs of Singaporeans themselves.

6.       The service will require greater depth of expertise than before, while keeping an openness of mind: drawing on diverse views and being prepared to adapt or retire policies that no longer serve us well.

7.       Yet underpinning the practicalities of policies, must remain the overarching moral purpose that has guided Singapore from the time of self-governance to today: the conviction a better society is possible. Where every individual and community is equally worthy of respect. And where we only uplift ourselves when we uplift others with us.

8.       This year, I am pleased to award the President’s Scholarship to Ms Hilary Chee Xin Yi, Mr Kaleb Teo Tze Hsiang and Miss Nguyen Ngo Khiet Duyen Clarissa.

9.       We will shortly hear the citations for each of them. Each of them has demonstrated not only broad-based excellence but a conviction to uplift others in the community – from supporting youths who start off with greater disadvantage, to helping migrant workers with their needs.

10.      To Hilary, Kaleb, and Clarissa, your time in university is an opportunity to step beyond your comfort zones. Go beyond a focus on your studies. Immerse yourself in the local community and get to know people from diverse backgrounds and places. These experiences are formative. They can give you a new perspective on society, or help you develop the understanding and empathy for those who live in very different circumstances from what you are used to.

11.       To receive the President’s Scholarship is a privilege. But don’t let it get to your head, or mistake excellence for superiority. The scholarship does not set you for life. What it does is to place on you an added commitment: to put every ability that you have to serving the people of Singapore.

12.       It also gives you the responsibility to keep developing yourself in the course of your public service careers. Keep abreast of new ideas, and think deeply about alternative options. Develop relationships with a wide range of people, including relationships you may never have experienced before. And always look for ways to collaborate with others and build team strengths, both within the public service and with groups in civic society.

13.       Finally, I want to commend your families, principals, teachers and friends for supporting you thus far. I wish you this year’s President’s Scholars the very best in your journeys ahead.

Chairman and members of the Public Service Commission,

Head, Civil Service and colleagues from the Public Service,

Scholarship recipients,

Family members, teachers, principals.

1     A very good afternoon to all of you.

2     Every year, when I come to give out the awards, I always wonder what I should tell you. And it is always a moment for me to also reflect on my own journey. Thirty-seven years ago, I was in your position. The difference was, 37 years ago, we did not have such a ceremony. We also did not need to put up a song and dance item.

3     In fact, my only memory of the time before I left for university was this — that I had to get two guarantors, and go to an office at City Hall to sign a bond. Then, I went to collect my air ticket, and off I went.

4     At that point in time, if you asked those of us who took a scholarship – what do you want to do for the Public Service in years to come? There were a few possible reasons why we took the scholarship.

5     One, which would still be true, was that some saw this as a recognition of their achievements — because they had worked hard, they were intelligent, they were committed, and so on and so forth. It was a reward for all their hard work. The second possible reason for some of us was, well, this was our ticket to an overseas education, and for many of us, this was also the first plane ticket overseas. Then, there were some of us who were even more practical. This was a promise of a job, because at that point in time we were not talking about what job we wanted to do. We were just talking about a job, any job, because once we finished school, we had to get a job. Or if we could not continue to progress in our education journey, we would have to get a job.

6     When I took the scholarship, on reflection, our country was only 23 years old. This year, we commemorate 60 years of nation building. Maybe in about 40 years’ time, if we are lucky, if we work hard, you will be the generation that will help Singapore cross SG100. The questions are: Will we get there? How will we get there? And what are our responsibilities to get everyone in Singapore there?

7     If I look back on the last 60 years, it was quite a daunting journey. When I took the scholarship, we were 23. Today, after 37 years, we are 60, and I would say this — there is nothing eternal about our success. It is not natural that we will get there effortlessly.

8     For students of history, if you look at the history of this part of the world, you will know that not many countries of our size and shape have survived more than a hundred years. I am known as the post-1965 generation, when our borders were drawn. Today, you are the post-2000 generation.

9     In your entire life, and mine, we have only sung Majulah Singapura as our national anthem. But my mother's life always reminds me of our realities. She is 87 years old this year. She has sung four national anthems in her lifetime without changing the place she lives in.

10     This is not to scare you. This is to encourage you, to stretch you. Always remember that there is nothing in Singapore that will come effortlessly. Our success will not just naturally continue — every day of success in Singapore, every day that we can tell fellow Singaporeans that we have enjoyed another day of peace, another day of progress that comes from the hard work of everyone in Singapore. This includes the hard work of the Public Service which must lead, which must anticipate the challenges, which must find the answers, hopefully even before the challenges emerge.

11 We are looking to you, not just to do well in your studies to answer yesterday's questions with yesterday's answers. We are looking to you to anticipate tomorrow's challenges, and find those answers ahead of time so that Singapore can continue to defy the odds of history for us to survive a hundred years from now.

12     Many of you, as Tzu Yang said, will be going overseas. And if we were to be stringent, I would ask, why do we send you overseas? Arguably, the quality of education in our own universities are amongst the best in the world.

13     The reason we send you overseas – and even for those of you who are not studying overseas, you will get the overseas exposure – is not just for the academic rigour or the content. For this, you can study in Singapore or anywhere else in the world. We hope that when you spread your wings and soar overseas, you will always appreciate the diversity and the complexity of this world, that you will build the ties that will perhaps help us one day. You will also gather fresh perspectives that challenge our own assumptions, keep us on our toes, and always remind ourselves that the last 60 years – if we are not careful – can easily be an aberration in the history of mankind.

14     Our mission in the Singapore Public Service is to keep this dream of ours – to be called Singaporeans forevermore – going. But it is not an easy task. It is not something that I would want any one of us here in this room or beyond to take for granted.

15     Many countries with much longer histories can have that buffer of historical strength, that cultural identity. For us, we are still a young nation in the making. Our people come from diverse shores. Some of the scholarship holders today were not born in Singapore, but you have joined the ranks of fellow Singaporeans. I hope that every one of us, whether we were born here or not, want to join the ranks of fellow Singaporeans because we are Singaporeans out of conviction and not out of convenience.

16     When Singapore is successful, it is easy for many to choose to be Singaporeans, but the real test of a Singaporean comes when Singapore is no longer as successful.

17     Will we be like the 1965 generation with our backs to the wall? Saying that even if this place were to fall, we will be here to build it all up again. This will also be a question that will confront many of you in time to come.

18     In time to come, I have every confidence that you will be successful in your studies and careers. I have every confidence that you will also be offered many opportunities by many people from other countries, MNCs, conglomerates. The question is: will you join the ranks of those who will take us to SG100 and beyond? To me, that is the most important question that you will have to ask yourselves as you continue in your journey of learning. The technical details, the academic subjects — that you can master easily. But what you must dig deep as you take the scholarship today is to ask ourselves, how will you – how will we as a team – work together, lead Singapore, serve Singapore, and make sure that by the time we get to SG100, that we will all be in a better place. That we are all even more proud of our identity as Singaporeans, notwithstanding our material success or lack of. That, even in the toughest of times, we will be Singaporeans out of conviction, and you are the leaders of this generation who will lead Singapore with conviction.

19     Perhaps it is unfair for me to put this all on you, because 37 years ago, nobody spoke to me this way. So what did I do? I never learnt the big lessons of taking care of Singapore, changing the world, and so on and so forth. I just learnt one very important life lesson when I came back and started my internship, and that was to take care of my fellow men and women under my charge. We did not aspire to change the world. We did not aspire to do great things, but we were imbued with the values that if we took care of the men and women under our charge, the men and women would take care of the mission. If we inspired two, two inspired four, and four inspired eight, soon we would inspire the whole nation and more.

20     So while we have big dreams, while you have heavy responsibilities, never be fearful, because we all start small. We all start local. We all start by making sure that we put the country, the mission and the people whom we are responsible for, before ourselves. If we can do that, then I have every confidence that in 40 years’ time, if we are so fortunate to get to SG100, then you will be the generation that will help us get there.

21     On that note, I wish you all the very best. I look forward to your contributions, that one day, you too in your respective capacities will inspire another generation to come forth and serve.