by Goh Chin Lian, Senior Political Correspondent

THE perception that the public service does not tolerate views that contradict government policies is one reason 18-year-olds give politically correct answers at the interviews for civil service scholarships.

Other reasons are their superficial knowledge of a subject and a culture of deference to authority, said young people who spoke to The Straits Times.

They were commenting on a main criticism Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman Eddie Teo made about would-be scholars who give pro-government answers because they think that is what the interview panel wants to hear.

Mr Andrew Cheong, 19, who will study international politics at Beijing University on a PSC scholarship, said most people he had spoken to were sceptical about governance and politics here.

'I think they have a misconception that the civil service wants people who think in the same way,' said the former National Junior College student.

Agreeing, Ms Sandra Go, another scholarship holder, said a savvy candidate may moderate her answer to avoid getting on the wrong side of the interviewers - and still appear not overly politically correct.

'We want to stand out a bit - just enough to be unique but not too much. We don't want to make a wrong choice,' said the 19-year-old, who will study business and political economy at New York University on a scholarship from state investment agency Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC),

Ms Go, who was interviewed but failed to get a PSC scholarship, suspects that candidates may also fall back on a safe answer if they do not know enough about a topic. 'We will then follow the public view and weave in our own view.'

Mr Alex Woon, 19, who will study law in Britain's Cambridge University on a PSC scholarship, thinks some candidates may simply not be comfortable handling hard questions and giving hard answers.

He reckons this has to do with the Singapore culture: 'I think Singaporeans in general don't like confrontation. They don't like to tell their superiors: 'This is wrong' or 'This is stupid'.'

But all the 10 people interviewed by The Straits Times said they would not hesitate to disagree with government policies if they had solid reasons for doing so.

All had been through a PSC interview, in the past two years.

Mr Teo, in an open letter to schools yesterday on how the PSC selects government scholars and what qualities it looks for, urged the youths to be their true self and expect tough questions.

Schools such as Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) - which produce most of the PSC scholars - said they do not prepare their students for the 30-minute interview, or coach them to give the right answers.

The students are already trained to think critically and to express their views, they said.

But Mr Wilson Yung, 21, who was Temasek Polytechnic's first student to win a PSC scholarship last year, said his lecturers helped him brush up on his current affairs knowledge.

'I couldn't give the exact inflation figure, so I went home, read the newspapers for a few days and tried to recall some facts and figures,' he said.

Others like 19-year-old Philip Chan, who will do physics and philosophy at Oxford University on a PSC scholarship, also got a heads up from his seniors.

They told him he would be asked many questions, so he was mentally prepared for a tough session.

'The interviewers kept throwing hypothetical situations at me,' he said, recalling being asked what he would do if refugees were to descend on Singapore.

Ms Rachel Lee, 20 said she was asked why her top choice was to work in the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, when her community service record was poor.

Her reply: I did not have time to do more.

She remembers the interviewer's retort: Other people can cope with the demands, so why can't you.

Ms Lee did not get the scholarship.

This article first appeared in the Straits Times.