Dear Dr. Chee,
It is out of desperation that I have to write this email.
I am a Singaporean male who is currently studying in National University of Singapore. When I was young, I had full of hopes for this little island which I call home and motherland. However, all beautiful thoughts of my country vanished and the cloud that blurred my eyes dispersed.
I am very unhappy that our country is giving scholarships to so many untalented foreign undergraduates. These foreign undergraduates are not even citizens and yet are given the privilege to a free tertiary education. Although I have no statistics to show, I believe there are more foreign scholars than local scholars in NUS. I am sure there are many Singaporeans who are academically better than them but have been
deprived of scholarships. I have been placed in the Dean’s List but I have never receive any form of financial funding. These scholarships are paid to the foreign undergraduates using the money of our tax payers. Therefore, it is disheartening to see that our own people have been neglected in favour of the foreigners.
It is illogical to argue that less scholarships are given to citizens because the tuition fees are affordable. It is recently reported that minister Teo Chee Hean’s son received the PSC scholarship to pursue an education in Brown University. The cost of an education in the US should not be a problem for our ministers who have lucrative salaries.
I am writing to you because there are no other avenues for me to express my grievances. I believe you are the only one who is willing to fight for the citizen’s rights. I hope to see you bringing up this matter at the coming election.
DISILLUSIONED STUDENT