Tampines MP Baey Yam Keng’s A-Level results showed that he scored 4 distinctions in his exams.
Candidates who sat for the 2021 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Level) examination received their results from their schools today.
11,070 candidates sat for the 2021 GCE A-Level examination. 10,353 (93.5%) of these candidates have attained at least 3 H2 passes, with a pass in General Paper (GP) or Knowledge and Inquiry (KI). This is comparable to the performance of candidates for the GCE A-Level Examination in previous years, notwithstanding COVID-19.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Baey Yam Keng took to his Facebook to wish the candidates who sat for the 2021 GCE A-Level examination well. Sharing his own A-Level examination results, Baey asked them to be contented with their results. Several Facebook users who responded to the MP’s post however, thought that he was ‘humblebragging’.
In his post, the MP said: “No one is perfect. I also wished I obtained better results for my A Levels. Even a milestone exam is just a part of our learning journey. All the best to those receiving their results later today. As long as you have done your best, be happy with what you have achieved.”
Humblebragging means making an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement with the actual intention of drawing attention to something of which one is proud. Since the MP’s post showed that he had stellar scores for his A-Level examinations taken in 1988, several Facebook users thought that he was humblebragging.
One Facebook user commenting on Baey’s post said: “I know you share this with a good intent but these are seriously good grades. By saying that these are not good and you wanted even better ones is quite demoralising to students who can never hope to get these kind of grades. To some, it even looks like a “humble brag.””
Another said in jest, “That’s quite lousy indeed! I had 1’s throughout…But seriously this is like humble bragging man…”
Benjamin Lee – perhaps better known to Singaporeans by his blogging pseudonym Mr Miyagi – responded to Baey’s post saying, “Liddat no good meh? The only A I got was in the title of the cert. ahahaha”
Another well known internet personality Lee Kin Mun (aka mr brown) trolled Baey saying: “OMG only B3 for GP! How did you survive that trauma?”
After drawing some brikbats for his post, the MP revised it; “All the best to those receiving their results later today. As long as you have done your best, be happy with what you have achieved. Many of us aim for perfection but no one is perfect. Even though my A Level results would be considered good, I also wished then I had done better.”
“Looking back today after many years, my grades did help me get a scholarship. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do my degree overseas. Other than that, I don’t think they mattered much in my life. A Level is a milestone exam, however it is just one part of our lifelong learning journey. All the best to those receiving their results later today. As long as you have done your best, be happy with what you have achieved.”
His revision did not go well with most FB users as well. Local literary critic Gwee Li Sui dismissed the revision saying it merely added “another brag”.
The MP responded to some of the criticisms on his Facebook: “I never said my results were no good. Just that I was like most people, aiming for better or perfection.” He said that he “was very happy with his Chemistry S paper, especially (since he) failed (his) Chemistry common test in JC2 – got a scolding from (his) Chemistry tutor.”
One Facebook user advised the Baey, who is also a Senior Parliamentary Secretary (SPS), to remove the post entirely.
“Dear SPS Baey , while you may have good intention, this post smugs of an privilege elite trying to empathize with the mass without knowing how privileged they have been. Grades are nothing except getting you a overseas scholarship? That is everything sir, the opportunity you received because of your good grades is a privilege that many could only dream of. Without that , your life opportunity would have been more challenging. So please kindly remove this post before it generate more unnecessary negativity from the mass. If anything , your post only serve to solidly the view that grades are everything.”
Baey responded to some of the criticisms saying: “I didn’t mean to say my results weren’t good, just that they weren’t perfect which is perfectly fine.”