TCB had criticized the govt and openly supported WP. And even if he is not as oppo as TJS, he certainly wasn't the 2nd closet PAP candidate.
Many PAP MPs, e.g. Lily Neo, have criticized certain PAP policies without their allegiance to the PAP being called into question. Rather, it is what a good PAP MP should do. Likewise an SDP member criticizing SDP policies doesn't make him a PAP sympathizer.
I'm not aware that TJB has openly supported WP. On the other hand, TJS has openly called for regime change.
It would be a delusion to think that under a PAP government, the very top ranking civil servants are not PAP-cloaked. A PPS is certainly no doctor of a minister or the owner of a minister's favourite chicken rice stall. They have to work closely together. They are not PAP members simply because the PAP needs to show that the civil service is non-partisan.
Disagree. We inherited the civil service system from the Brits, which is meant to be non-partisan and to work with whichever administration is voted into power. Of course a high-ranking civil servant would have to work with a minister(s), but that should not be an indicator of their ideological or party allegiance. Should a Tory-voting perm sec be sacked if Labour comes into power?
I have a perm sec friend who's competent and responsible, yet has a mind of his own when it comes to politics and ideology. And he's certainly no PAP supporter, nor is he involved in any PAP electoral or grassroots activities. To him, being a PS is simply a job that he does well and that pays him well.
If you can show me that TJS was clandestinely doing party or grassroots work (even without being a member) for the PAP while he was PPS, I'd agree with you. Even if he had voted PAP previously, it didn't make him part of the PAP machinery anymore than it made YSL a PAP guy.