Of coz u should try.

But try to look for scholarships, research assistantships, funding first. Write to the potential supervisors there and ask them as well.

Otherwise, you can do it MPhil locally first.

Then only later try again to register at NUS for a PhD.

No, i'm not. I did my undergrad in IPTS and then my PhD in IPTA.

There's another forumer here who did his undergrad in an IPTA and his PhD in NUS. But he has not logged in here for over 5 years.

I think I'm eligible to answer this .. because I went through this ..

You can try but the chances is rather low .. very competitive to get a scholarship .. it took me 3 years to secure one .. and I have quite a number of publications .. I had had about 10 before I secured a spot .. and now they require the stupid GRE requirement .. making it more competitive ..

The easiest way to get in is by doing so ..

Get up an RA position in NUS .. show how capable you are .. you will need a solid support from your supervisor .. else the chances is almost non-existent .. because you have to compete with many Chinese students that are from top PRC University .. and most importantly they are willing to self-fund .. scholarship is close to non-existent too because they are mostly given to Chinese students because of co-funding from China  ..

In short .. scholarship is hard unless you can build your cable .. I went through the hard way .. by proving myself with strong publications .. a fren of mine .. went through the easy way .. as aforementioned .. but he didn't secure a scholarship .. but his supervisor was willing to fund him

I would say .. don't think PhD in NUS is all high up .. nth special here except money