No Singaporean made Singaporeans' top 17 most-admired people in the world

August is coming up and it's the time when Singaporeans are the most patriotic, right?

Apparently not.

In a recent survey by YouGov, 1,112 Singaporeans were asked to name the person they admired the most. And the person to top the list with a 12.58 per cent admiration score was...

Michelle Obama.

That's a pretty excellent choice, honestly speaking. Full of conviction, the compassionate yet compelling former US First Lady inspired a new generation of strong women. It's no surprise that she's also the leading lady on the global ranking, nothing short of impressive there.

And yet, as you go down the list, you'd realise the top five spots remain devoid of any Singaporeans. In fact, the first 17 positions are filled by foreign public figures. What does that say about us?

Before anyone cries foul, the data was curated from nominations across 41 countries, all of whom were asked to nominate public figures they admired most. A poll was then sent out with a list that was based on the people with the most nominations received. On top of that, up to 10 popular local figures were added to each country's list.

So yes, there were definitely at least 10 Singaporean public figures on the ballot slip.

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Only in 18th place, with a score of 3.32 per cent, does the first Singaporean appear, and it's not surprisingly Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, with President Halimah Yacob right behind him at 3.31 per cent. The only other locals to make it to the list are PM Lee's wife Ho Ching and, interestingly enough, Mandopop singer JJ Lin, who is based in Taiwan.

What happened to the other 6 locals in the poll? Then again, that's still a marked improvement from 2018, when PM Lee and President Halimah were the only two to make the list. We'll leave that up to you to discuss.

Take a closer look at the results and there's quite a clear divide between the type of men and women that we consider admirable.

From former US President Barack Obama, to the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Jack Ma, to male icon David Beckham, the preference in admirable men ranges largely among people from political, business and sporting backgrounds, remaining largely unchanged from the previous year's results.

In contrast, entertainers such as popular talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres and Chinese actress Yang Mi dominate the female list.

What's also interesting to note is the entrance of Chinese actress and model Angelababy and her compatriot Fan Bingbing's quiet exit. Since she was exposed the year prior for evading taxes, Fan has been, for lack of a better word, cancelled. On the personal front, she also called off her engagement to actor Li Chen.

All in all, at least the list is mostly respectable figures, so you can still proudly say locals have good tastes.

Disagree with the results? Keep a lookout for when YouGov starts collating responses for 2020, and perhaps we might see more local faces on the list.

rainercheung@asiaone.com