The quiet rejection of Dr Paul Tambyah: What Bukit Panjang reveals about us
SINGAPORE: At MOE (Evans) Stadium, there was no eruption of cheers. No thunderous applause or victory dance from the supporters of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Just a quiet sigh, a tightening of the jaw, and a knowing glance shared among campaigners—the kind of silence that follows the extinguishing of a long-held hope.
Dr Paul Tambyah, world-renowned infectious diseases expert and the face of principled opposition in Singapore, lost Bukit Panjang Single Member Constituency (SMC) with 38% of the vote not to a scandal-ridden incumbent or a dazzling new PAP candidate but to the same political machine that has long kept brilliant individuals like him out of Parliament. A man who could have been a minister anywhere else
Dr Paul isn't just a good candidate. He presided over the International Society for Infectious Diseases during a global pandemic. He's trained generations of doctors, spoken at forums worldwide, and earned accolades for his clarity and calm. Had he been in almost any other country, he'd have been a Minister for Health, if not leading a major health agency.
However, in Singapore, where he chose to stay and serve out of a deep sense of duty, he wasn't even elected.
Not in 2020. Not now. The questions we're too afraid to ask
How is it that a healthcare expert of Dr Paul's calibre still loses in the midst of a national cost-of-living crisis and rising healthcare burdens?
Could it be that his policy-driven speeches—free from populism and anger—fell on ears too conditioned to value charisma over competence?
Or does the answer lie deeper in something no election rally dares admit?
That Singaporeans, especially in single-member constituencies, may not yet be ready to vote for a minority opposition figure—however brilliant, steady, and sincere. Singaporeans voted, but did they choose?
There's no denying it: The electorate spoke. Dr Paul didn't win.
However, what does that say about us?
That someone so universally respected still cannot clear 40% in a solo fight suggests we may not be voting on ideas alone. We are voting on comfort, conformity, and deeply ingrained expectations.
Dr Paul has said before that politics is about service, not ego. And true to form, he took his defeat with grace.
But behind that smile is a scar—a reminder that Singapore's democracy, though polished and orderly, still has blind spots we refuse to see.
Because if Paul Tambyah cannot win Bukit Panjang, who can?
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