This is perhaps the greatest flaw of Singapore's "meritocratic" system.

Time and again, people have voiced their discomfort and unhappiness with military people directly entering into the highest echelons of the public service.

They have close to zero domain knowledge in their new organization, yet are expected to lead such an organization.

It's equivalent to asking the CEO of Coca Cola to become the CEO of Google and thinking he will perform fantastically well.

On the other hand, those who have spent years building up their domain knowledge and leadership in the organization are denied a chance at the top spot compared to this random dude from the military who walked in.

Honestly, it's not so much LCH's fault as it is of the government. If I'm LCH, I will certainly take up this role. Indeed, it is the government's fault for having such a bizarre appointment process in the first place.

I have some sympathy knowing that military people have an early retirement age with possibly limited transferability of skillsets to other jobs. But automatically opening the doors wide for them into the public service and GLCs cannot be the solution.

Instead, the conversation should go like this: "Thank you for your service to the nation. Here is money for you. We can also enroll you in some courses of your interest. However, you would have to find the next stage of your life on your own. All the best."

We simply cannot let sympathy for these military people translate into externalities for the rest of the country.