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Lee Xin Yi had always believed scholarships were meant only for straight-A students, but her own journey with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) showed her otherwise.
“When I applied for the MHA scholarship, I did not have the confidence that I would get it as I was not a straight-A student,” says the 22-year-old. “Looking back, I am glad that I did not let self-doubt deter me from applying.”
She had suffered a setback in her academic journey when she was retained in Secondary 3 due to poor grades. Rather than continuing with the Integrated Programme track, she opted for the O-level route – a choice that, at first, seemed to derail her further.
Instead of letting the setback define her, she used it as an opportunity to reassess her priorities. “I needed to recalibrate and get my act together again,” she says.
She not only turned things around but eventually did well enough to enter the same junior college as her former classmates, albeit a year later. In 2022, she applied for and received the MHA Civilian Scholarship (Generalist).
If anything, the experience taught Xin Yi that success is not about avoiding failures, but about having the resilience to bounce back from them. It is a lesson that would prove valuable in today’s dynamic environment, where the ability to adapt and persevere often matters more than perfect academic scores.
“My time in Zurich… showed me how important it is to… understand the underlying factors that drive people to break rules repeatedly.”
– Lee Xin Yi, recipient of the MHA Civilian Scholarship (Generalist)
The pattern of charting her own path continued when it came time to choose her university degree. Most people expect MHA scholars to gravitate towards law, sociology or public policy. But Xin Yi opted for a real estate degree at the National University of Singapore (NUS), drawn by how the programme blends geography, taxation, business and property law.
“It is not strictly an arts or science degree. There is a human-centric sensibility to problem-solving,” she notes.
Now in her third year at NUS, Xin Yi is convinced real estate is a multidisciplinary field that is highly relevant to public service.
“It taught me about opportunity costs, finance and urban planning. In land-scarce Singapore, it is especially important to prioritise resources and make decisions based on sound policy,” she explains.
On top of that, the degree has given her a good foundation in skills such as statistics and data analysis.
The interdisciplinary nature of her real estate studies, combined with her own experience of adapting to different academic environments, has taught her to see the value in different viewpoints. This versatility, she feels, will be particularly valuable at MHA, where projects often involve multiple stakeholders.
“By taking on a degree that’s neither exclusively science- nor arts-based, it helps me to better facilitate communication between people from different backgrounds.”
For her summer school exchange last July, Xin Yi’s interest in sports law took her to Switzerland. Instead of opting for typical real estate internships or local attachments, she enrolled in the University of Zurich’s International Sports Law programme (Certificate for Advanced Studies). She was one of the few non-law students attending the course.
“My time in Zurich, where I studied international sports law and doping cases, gave me a new perspective on crime prevention,” says Xin Yi. “It showed me how important it is to look beyond individual offences and understand the underlying factors that drive people to break rules repeatedly.”
The course brought theory to life through first-hand accounts. She heard from sports lawyers and former athletes who candidly shared their experiences with doping – including what drove them to take these risks despite knowing the consequences.
These frank discussions revealed how regulations often struggle to keep pace with new evasion tactics, offering Xin Yi valuable insights into the challenges of enforcement efforts.
She hopes to bring these insights and new ideas across various domains of work that she will be involved in when she joins MHA as a Civilian Generalist after graduating in 2026.
During her school holidays, Xin Yi gained further exposure to the ministry’s work through the Vacation Attachment Programme. She was attached to MHA’s planning and organisation division as well as the human resource division.
She saw how different Home Team agencies work together for the common goal of keeping Singapore safe. For example, the enforcement operations of the Central Narcotics Bureau as well as the rehabilitation of drug offenders at the Singapore Prison Service contribute to a drug-free nation.
When she joins the ministry as a Civilian Generalist, she will get to rotate among 12 domain areas – including communications, policy planning and operations planning – across the ministry headquarters and 10 Home Team agencies.
Her visit to Changi Prison Complex during the Vacation Attachment Programme left a deep impression upon her. While the prison conditions are spartan, inmates are given opportunities to pick up skills to help them better reintegrate into society after their release.
The sight of inmates quietly drawing and painting in solace during an art class gave her a new perspective on prison life and reinforced the meaning behind her chosen path in the Home Team.
“In this line of work, it’s easy to get caught up with completing and ticking off tasks. But we need to remember that we’re ultimately working with people, not just cases or files,” says Xin Yi. “We’re here to make a difference in people’s lives.”
