A great read:
“Most visibly,
meritocracy has been a backbone of talent management in Singapore’s public
administration. Each year, publicly funded scholarships are awarded to students
to study at top universities, mostly overseas. The competition for these scholarships,
on the basis of academic, extracurricular and leadership achievements, has been
very keen. The returning scholarship-holders are stringently assessed to join
the premier Administrative Service, where they are stretched, tested and
groomed to become top public-sector leaders. The best of them become Permanent
Secretaries (administrative heads of government ministries) or even cabinet
ministers if eventually coopted into politics. Each year, Administrative
Service officers are put through a thorough performance evaluation, ranked and
subjected to a re-calibration of their career potential. A significant number
are mercilessly removed to make way for new officers.”