University of Michigan student Rahul Daswani argued that Singaporeans were politically apathetic as they had abdicated all decision-making to the Government.

He said if Singapore wished to have the same level of democracy as that of the United States and United Kingdom, then people here needed to speak up and participate more.

He wanted Dr Ng's view on how the current level of political apathy would affect Singapore's future.

The 24-year-old was speaking at a dialogue at Confluence 2007, a career networking event organised by overseas Singaporean students.

Responding, Dr Ng cautioned not to equate the absence of strident views with political apathy.

Citing the example of a community leader who has spent three nights a week for the past 30 years serving his community, he asked if this was political apathy.

'Is he more apathetic compared to somebody who writes a letter and says 'I don't like this and this and this'?' he asked.

'I want to challenge the notion that there is political apathy,' he told the 400 students in the audience.

He pointed out that many of the students in the room came from top universities - a significant achievement for a small country.

'If this is a result of political apathy, then I'll challenge those who say that. Show me another system that throws up these positive results, of a system that depoliticises education so that students get the best.'

Students also brought up the issue of growing materialism of Singaporeans. One observed that Singaporeans seem too secure financially to possess hunger and drive to work harder.

Dr Ng said that computer bigwigs Bill Gates and Michael Dell were not 'dirt poor' when they achieved success.

This was proof that affluent societies were capable of producing achievers.

He also responded to comments that Singaporeans had become a selfish lot and showed little compassion for others.

Dr Ng dismissed these notions citing examples of how Singaporeans have come to one another's aid in difficult times.

A case in point was the contributions of ordinary Singaporeans to the National Kidney Foundation.

Many also went out of their way to help victims of the 2004 tsunami which hit countries in the region.

'My sense is we are very compassionate. The odd thing is the ones with less wealth are usually the most compassionate, relative to what they have,' he said.

casschew@sph.com.sg