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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has drawn plaudits for his eloquent speeches and his resolve to remain within the capital city of Kyiv despite coming under attack from Russia.

Before entering politics, Zelensky starred in a TV show, 'Servant of the People', as a humble teacher named Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko.

Through a series of humorous events, he is somehow elected the new President of Ukraine. Yes, the man who is the real-life president of Ukraine once played the president on a TV show.

The series then follows the new president as he tries to clean up corruption and restore the people's confidence in their government.

In the 10th episode, Goloborodko holds a meeting with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yuriy Ivanovich Chuiko.

Ukraine has a semi-presidential system where the prime minister is the head of government and presides over the cabinet, while the president deals with foreign affairs and is the commander-in-chief of the military.

So the president cannot implement laws willy-nilly, he has to get the cooperation of his prime minister too.

Goloborodko has an idea for education reform. He notes, somewhat acerbically, that the politicians and rich elite of Ukraine tend to send their children to study in foreign schools or international schools within Ukraine.

He proposes that Ukrainian youths should be sent to study abroad on one condition -- that they spend the next five years working in government institutions upon their return.

"This way, we'll get specialists with international skills," the president says.

He even name-checks the countries he wants to emulate -- China and Singapore.

This is a likely reference to the Singapore government's public sector scholarships, where bright students can study overseas at reputable universities in exchange for coming back to Singapore and serving a bond of a few years.

In episode 22, Goloborodko takes part in a political debate on Ukraine's independence day.

The topic of the debate is corruption, and the host challenges the president on his anti-corruption pledge, saying that there has been little progress since his election.

Later on during the debate, the foreign minister speaks up and says:

"Corruption is like an incurable disease in our country. As a result, the state organism teeters on the brink of life and death. That's how, in his book 'From Third World to First', the great Lee Kuan Yew described corruption in Singapore in the 1970s."

A round of applause followed this comment.

The minister goes on to say that they have applied the experience of Singapore and other countries in Ukraine, based on America, where officials guilty of bribery were sentenced to a punishment of holding a sign in public proclaiming their guilt.

This could be a reference to a number of cases in America where offenders were sentenced to stand in public holding a sign describing their offence.

The series is available to watch in Singapore on Netflix.

Singapore-Ukraine relations

Singapore has supported Ukraine in their defence against the Russian invaders, imposing sanctions upon Russia, aimed at limiting its war-making capacity.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) also praised Singapore for standing by the principles of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Top image from Netflix.

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