If this is Singapore’s next leader, can he bridge its English-Mandarin divide?
With years of experience as a close aide to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and battle-hardened with a tough election loss in the past, Ong Ye Kung has the tools necessary to one day contend for the premiership
The “contestation” arguably reached its peak with the Lee family’s nasty squabble over the late patriarch’s intentions for his 38 Oxley Road residence.
In the past, the government-controlled media would have “managed” the public debate, but with the emergence of social media, such neat solutions are impossible.
It’s hard to see how the well-meaning but bland technocrats of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) are going to cope with these political challenges. Moreover, all of this is taking place against a backdrop of political uncertainty as both Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat suffered extremely public health incidents last year.
Tharman’s a perfect leader for Singapore – so what’s stopping him? His ethnicity?
Adding to the confusion is the elite’s seeming determination to exclude the highly respected Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (who is Indian-Singaporean) from all talk of succession.