Singapore – For the primary time in 20 years, Singapore will inaugurate a brand new prime minister, Minister for Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who will take the reins of energy in a ceremony on Wednesday, Might 15.
The 51-year-old will exchange Lee Hsien Loong – the eldest son of the nation’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – who has been within the job since August 2004.
Wong is simply the fourth chief in Singapore’s 59-year historical past as an impartial nation. Like his predecessors, he’s a member of the Individuals’s Motion Celebration (PAP), co-founded by the elder Lee and the one ruling occasion Singaporeans have ever identified.
The stage is now set for a common election within the city-state of 6 million individuals, which observers say could possibly be held as early as this 12 months, though the time period of the present authorities doesn’t expire till 2025.
On the final election in 2020, the PAP secured greater than 61 % of the vote, dropping simply 10 seats within the 98-member parliament to the opposition, however this was thought of a sub-par efficiency given the opposition had received solely six seats within the earlier parliament.
The stakes are larger now, and a brand new chief is historically anticipated to realize a robust mandate from voters. Wong can be tasked with sustaining the dominance of the PAP within the face of an more and more demanding voters who need a larger say in governance and eschew the knuckleduster techniques and paternalistic politics of earlier governments.
They’re additionally tiring of the rat race, which Wong himself has acknowledged.
Among the many most urgent points on his plate: tackling the rising price of residing, an ageing inhabitants, a slowing economic system and immigration. The PAP has additionally been rocked by a uncommon corruption scandal.
As well as, Wong should navigate the ever-present China-United States rivalry because the tiny island is a key ally to each superpowers.
Who’s Lawrence Wong?
The mild-mannered Wong was chosen by his friends among the many “4G”, or fourth technology of leaders in Singapore’s political jargon, to be a successor to 72-year-old Lee in April 2022.
One thing of a compromise candidate, he was not their first selection.
That was former central financial institution chief and Minister for Training Heng Swee Keat, 63, who had been appointed to succeed Lee in 2018. In a rustic famend for its political stability, Heng sparked a mini political disaster by stepping apart two and a half years later, citing his age and admitting that he had not felt as much as the duty from the beginning.
Not like lots of his PAP friends, Wong didn’t come from the island’s institution or attend its prime colleges. Going to school within the US on a authorities scholarship, he began out as an economist within the commerce and business ministry earlier than coming into politics in 2011.
After stints as a minister in much less glamorous portfolios resembling nationwide growth, he was not thought of a possible prime minister, however the COVID-19 pandemic modified the whole lot.
As co-leader of the nation’s COVID-19 activity drive, Wong emerged as the general public face of the federal government’s pandemic response, adroitly fielding questions from international media shops in televised information conferences. Such occasions are a rarity in a rustic that performs dismally within the annual World Press Freedom rankings – Singapore was ranked 126th out of 180 international locations and territories this 12 months.
“Mr Wong is seen as a technocrat, [who is] pleasant and approachable. He delivered nicely for the COVID-19 disaster, so he might be considered as competent,” stated former PAP lawmaker Inderjit Singh, who served alongside Lee in his central Ang Mo Kio ward for twenty years.
Noting that Wong was solely chosen two years in the past after a interval of political uncertainty, he added: “Anybody in his place could have his work reduce out to point out that he’s certainly the precise chief. He has a giant activity to rapidly present that he’s certainly the precise one who can ship.”
Management succession
Traditionally, management succession in Singapore has been a well-oiled course of, with the inheritor obvious introduced nicely prematurely and groomed for years. This has been facilitated by a sterling file of governance, the PAP’s longstanding parliamentary supermajority – at its peak, there have been no opposition lawmakers – and its dominance of key establishments.
Heng’s sudden departure was due to this fact unprecedented. Wong may even have the shortest runway of all – he grew to become Lee’s deputy simply two months after being anointed his successor. By comparability, the youthful Lee served as deputy prime minister for 14 years earlier than taking excessive job.
This maybe explains Minister of Regulation and Minister for Residence Affairs Okay Shanmugam’s prickly response to what he termed a “sneering” commentary in The Economist final month, which labelled Wong a compromise candidate and the Singapore media “docile”. Weeks later, the UK weekly carried out a wide-ranging interview with Wong the place he burdened that as prime minister, he wouldn’t shrink back from making unpopular selections.
“Wong comes throughout as being very personable. He doesn’t painting the picture of a hardliner,” stated former newspaper editor PN Balji, who interacted extensively with Wong’s predecessors. Whereas he’s optimistic that Wong will come to show himself, he added: “When you have a look at the management from Lee Kuan Yew until now, the standard of management has declined considerably.”
Maybe this is the reason Lee Hsien Loong is just not going away – he’ll stay within the cupboard with the title of senior minister, simply as his predecessors did.
“Given the quick runway, I feel Wong will profit from [Lee’s] presence, particularly in serving to maintain [good] exterior relations,” stated Singh.
What do Singaporeans consider him?
Regardless of his elevated profile in the course of the pandemic, the guitar-playing, dog-loving, social media-friendly Wong stays one thing of an unknown amount to Singaporeans.
In line with a latest YouGov ballot, simply greater than half of respondents thought of him competent, with lower than a 3rd agreeing that he was a robust chief. Some 40 % stated he appeared reliable, a quantity that was considerably larger amongst Gen Z respondents. A fifth felt hopeful about Wong’s appointment, whereas 36 % acknowledged indifference.
Many additionally indicated excessive expectations for the incoming prime minister, maybe reflecting the truth that Singapore’s authorities leaders are the world’s highest-paid, with the prime minister taking dwelling 2.2 million Singapore {dollars} ($1.6m) a 12 months together with bonuses.
“Wong’s greatest problem within the quick time period can be to articulate an easy-to-understand, inclusive, and progressive political imaginative and prescient that may draw widespread assist for his authorities within the upcoming elections,” Elvin Ong, an assistant professor on the Nationwide College of Singapore’s political science division, informed Al Jazeera.
Wong, who has burdened that he didn’t hunt down the function or count on to grow to be chief, is actually working laborious to win over the voters. “Each ounce of my vitality shall be dedicated to the service of our nation and our individuals,” he stated in a publish to his 200,000-odd Instagram followers after the handover date was introduced. “Your goals will encourage my actions.”
Calling Singapore the “inconceivable, unlikely nation”, he informed The Economist: “My mission is to maintain this miracle going for so long as I can.”
