SINGAPORE: Lawrence Wong, the deputy of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will succeed him as leader of the affluent country after Loong steps down next month.
Lee posted on social media on Monday, saying, “On May 15, 2024, I will resign from my position as Prime Minister and DPM (Deputy Prime Minister) Lawrence Wong will be sworn in as the next Prime Minister on the same day.”
“I want to make a request to all Singaporeans: please support Lawrence and his team wholeheartedly and collaborate with them to build a better future for Singapore.” The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has controlled without interruption since independence in 1965, produced a new generation of parliamentarians in 2022, including Wong, the finance minister and Lee’s heir apparent.
“I take on this role with a strong sense of obligation and humility. I promise to give this project everything I have,” Wong posted on social media. The US-educated economist, 51, is regarded by many as a social media virtuoso who chaired the government’s pandemic taskforce during the Covid-19 outbreak and handled the situation well.
As the pandemic subsided in 2022, the city-state was among the first in Asia to rapidly recover, with both business and tourism figures increasing.
Wong was already well-known in Southeast Asia and to China and the United States, the two main powers that are most significant to the city-state, according to Mustafa Izzuddin, a political analyst with the consulting firm Solaris Strategies Singapore.
“I believe he brings a leadership style that is more appropriate for a different generation. Since the system has been in place for a long time, I believe the fundamental ideas of Singapore will endure,” he stated.
However, I believe that because he is of a different generation, his style may be somewhat different. Following a short-lived, fruitless union with Malaysia, Singapore gained independent and the outgoing premier Lee’s father, Lee Kuan Yew, became its first prime minister.
