SINGAPORE: In a social media post from earlier this week, the digital creator Alvin Huang highlighted the gap between Singapore Democratic Party chair Paul Tambyah’s achievements and his electoral record, calling his story “one of the most intriguing in Singapore politics.”

Dr Tambyah’s credentials are certainly impressive. He is a Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS), a Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the National University Hospital (NUH), as well as the first Singaporean to serve as the President of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, a position he held from 2022 to 2024.

As an opposition politician, however, he has not found nearly as much success. Under the SDP banner, he contested at Holland–Bukit Timah in 2015 and at Bukit Panjang SMC in 2020 and again in 2025, but has yet to win.

He came very close to it in 2020, winning 46.27% of the votes in Bukit Panjang against Liang Eng Hwa. However, five years later, his vote share dropped to vote share dropped to 38.62%.

“An internationally recognised infectious diseases physician ran for Parliament during the country’s worst public health crisis in generations. The voters re-elected the incumbent. That tells you something important about elections. Credentials alone do not win seats. Organisation matters. Groundwork matters. Trust built over years matters. And political affiliation matters too,” Mr Huang wrote.

He also told a story Dr Tambyah shared in 2019 of having been early for an SDP walkabout and seeing that there was a crowd at a POSB branch. When the SDP chair went over to check on what was happening, he found out there was a lucky draw for DBS or POSB cardholders. He then showed his credit card and won an umbrella.

“For fun,” he asked for a photo of himself receiving the umbrella from the bank manager, who initially agreed, but 10 minutes later, asked to be cropped out of the photo. The bank manager explained that he has a young family and could not “afford to be marked.”

Mr Huang also noted that while Dr Tambyah had been considered by the Singapore Medical Association as a Nominated Member of Parliament, he was not selected.

Nevertheless, despite losses and potential setbacks, and in the face of the strength of the ...