What Singapore’s cabinet shake-up reveals about plans for life after Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister Lee’s three likely successors – Chan Chun Sing, Heng Swee Keat, and Ong Ye Kung – were all given expanded portfolios but Lee retained his current deputies
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s decision to hold off on naming new deputies in Tuesday’s sweeping cabinet reshuffle suggests all three ministers viewed as contenders for the top political job remain in the running, observers said.
In a Facebook post, Lee said the extensive changes – fourth-generation or “4G” ministers of his long ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) now oversee two-thirds of the country’s ministries – showed the “leadership transition taking place in the next few years is well underway”.
Lee, in power since 2004, had not made such drastic changes to his government since 2011, when senior leaders including his late father and the country’s founding premier Lee Kuan Yew exited cabinet following a weak showing at elections that year.
In the aftermath of the last election in 2015, Lee said he was expediting the succession process with a target of stepping down before he turns 70 in 2022.
In recent months, however, the premier has appeared to walk back that position, and instead has suggested the process may be decelerated because 4G leaders are not yet ready to take the reins.
This heralded a move into uncharted territory, given a long-standing practice in the PAP for new leaders to be named early and to have a long lead time before they come into power.