Singapore’s next leader Heng Swee Keat: media’s love affair tells only half the story
- The Lion City’s state-linked media says he’s ‘open and consultative’, but critics wonder about his ability to break with an authoritarian tradition – and whether he can maintain party cohesion
According to The Straits Times, “nice, genuine, soft-spoken, kind” were the adjectives that kept cropping up when colleagues discussed the finance minister, who looks set to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after being named the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) next first assistant secretary general.
But while those descriptions appear to have gone down well with Heng – who in turn describes himself as “very open” – critics dismiss them as one-sided. They say various concerns surround the appointment of Heng, 57, including whether he will tighten political controls, be able to unify the party elite after a tight leadership contest and even whether he is healthy enough for the job after a stroke in 2016.
They say even the PAP’s own supporters hold such concerns regarding the next era of the party’s decades-long rule.
MORE OF THE SAME?
In office since 1959, the PAP has been in power uninterrupted for longer than any other party bar the Chinese Communist Party and the Workers’ Party of North Korea. Critics say the party’s success at the ballot box is partly down to its unapologetic “soft authoritarian” leadership – and question whether Heng is really likely to depart from this approach.