I am very much a product of my nation, Singapore, and I have worked for the government as an Information Officer in the Public Communications Division since June of 2011. I completed my undergraduate studies in history because I saw this as the best foundation for a career in international affairs. I am pleased that my small nation was one of the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and I am also pleased that Singapore is one of the world’s foremost economic success stories. The fact that I have both Mandarin Chinese and English as mother languages in which I work professionally helps to position me to be useful professionally in the international arena—working for ASEAN, the UN, or with NGOs—once I have graduated from the finest program in the world in International Relations, XXXX.
I see the strength of my application to your extremely competitive program at XXXX as bolstered primarily by my sold professional experience since June of 2011 through the present time as an Information Officer with the Public Communications Division of Singapore’s government. My duties include crafting appropriate key messages and positioning for Government policy announcements, preparing talking points for political office holders when they visit grassroots organizations and providing the media interviews. I am also a ghost-writer for Parliamentary speeches.
This experience has helped me to acquire an increasingly circumspect and sophisticated awareness of the inner workings of the government of Singapore, the way we think and the way we see ourselves or would like to see ourselves. My understanding of Asian affairs, especially from the perspective of Singapore, has also become refined by this professional experience as I have had the opportunity to speak at length with countless officials working for the government of Singapore about wide ranging issues of our day in Asian relations.
Hot button policy analysis stands at the center of my world and frame of reference, and I have become particularly skilled in the use of online research tools, social media management software for news scanning – Meltwater Buzz, Brandtology, Dow Jones Factivia, Hootsuite, Bitly Enterprise, etc. I am also a project manager in my position, especially with respect to Online Platform Management of websites, news updates, and various social media platforms. I coordinate workflow and materials between editorial teams, web designers, and video producers for www.Gov.sg and Our Singapore Conversation online platforms. I serve as the lead officer / project manager for www.Gov.sg portal and mobile apps.
I am most pleased to report that I have been published by our national newspaper on a variety of topics including social issues and our cultural heritage, as American election issues. I hope to distinguish myself in your program by my dedication to the subject of US involvement in Asian affairs and the role of the United States in maintaining a strategic balance among Asian countries. I want to learn to think both critically and creatively about the role of the US in Asia and I see XXXX as the optimal platform upon which to launch myself on this quest, thereby enhancing my career potential.
Thank you for considering my application.
Singapore Statement MSC International Relations in Asian Affairs