The Straits Times Interview, Sue-Ann Chia - Senior Political Correspondent : Ready to Take on a Bigger Role

Friday, 9 July 2010 — WPSN
THE WP QUARTET OF NEW LEADERS
Insight

Four fresh faces joined the Workers’ Party’s new line-up of 15 leaders at a party conference on Sunday. Insight speaks to the quartet to find out what propelled them to take up the opposition cause

BY SUE-ANN CHIA
SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

JOHN YAM

Age: 48

Job: Technology consultant

Education: PhD, University of South Australia; Masters in Business Administration, University of Strathclyde, Scotland; Bachelor of Eng (Electrical Engineering), National University of Singapore

Status: Married with two children: a son, 17, and a daughter, 12

Pet peeve: The stressful education system in Singapore

Passionate about: Changing the education system

DR JOHN Yam says it is no secret that he was a member of the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) youth wing in the mid-1990s.

He was helping out in then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Teck Ghee ward in Ang Mo Kio, as his friend’s father was a grassroots leader there.

But he stopped his PAP activities after two years and let his membership lapse.

He did not feel very engaged, he says, and decided to focus his energy on pursuing his PhD.

Yet, his heart was never very far from politics. Before the 2006 general election, he began to consider being a political activist again. This time, in the opposition.

Why not the PAP?

“I want to play a constructive role. I don’t think I’ll be effective in the PAP as I won’t have the same freedom to talk about issues I feel strongly about,” he says.

He also thinks the current batches of leaders are not as inspiring or as grounded as those of earlier days.

The Workers’ Party (WP) caught his attention and he attended all its election rallies.

“I found them to be very responsible. They don’t want to rock the boat just for the sake of it,” he says.

“They want to provide competition, and were gentlemanly in their ways.”

But it took him almost three years before he joined the party, answering a calling he could no longer deny, says Dr Yam, who is a Christian.

He became a member in the middle of last year, with an aim to speak up for those who cannot do it themselves.

What issue does he want to raise?

The answer rolls readily off his tongue: Change the education system.

What gets his goat is the elitism, undue stress and what he describes as “aggressive streaming” in schools.

He writes regularly about these issues on his blog, criticising the system which he says penalises late bloomers.

“Education is not about competition but learning,” he says, sharing his personal experiences.

The former Beatty Secondary School student says he started concentrating on his studies only in Secondary 3, and did well enough in his O levels to get into the then Hwa Chong Junior College.

He then went on to get a bachelor’s degree, a master’s and a doctorate.

But he believes if he was in the current system, he would have been “finished” as he did not do well in his Primary School Leaving Examination.

Despite the pressure in schools, his advice to his two children has always been: Don’t worry about exams.

“Daddy will be happy as long as you put in your best effort,” he says, adding that what is more important in life is character building.

He says the flaw in the education system can be seen in our lack of Nobel Prize winners or even innovative companies like Ikea, Nokia or Apple.

He wants to set it right in Singapore.

“It starts with cultivating the right passion,” he says.