Singapore's leader-in-waiting steps aside as future PM in succession setback (updated)

Singapore Post

08/04/2021 11:42

(Adds economist's comment)
    By Aradhana Aravindan and Anshuman Daga
    SINGAPORE, April 8 (Reuters) - Singapore's Deputy Prime
Minister Heng Swee Keat is stepping aside as the country's
designated future leader to let a younger person take over when
current premier Lee Hsien Loong retires, according to his letter
published on Thursday.
    "I would have too short a runway should I become the next
prime minister then," Heng said in the letter posted on the
website of the prime minister's office. 
    "We need a leader who will not only rebuild Singapore
post-COVID-19, but also lead the next phase of our
nation-building effort," he added.
    Heng, who turns 60 this year, is also set to give up his
portfolio as finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle expected to
take place in about two weeks, local media reported.
    Succession in the wealthy Southeast Asian city state - which
has been governed by the People's Action Party (PAP) since
independence in 1965 - is normally a carefully planned affair.
    Lee, 69, has flagged that he may have to delay his plans to
hand over to a successor by the time he is 70 because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
    Heng will continue as deputy prime minister but will step
aside as leader of the ruling party's fourth-generation team, a
term used to describe a group of members seen as future leaders.
    "This unexpected turn of events is a setback for our
succession planning. We recognise that Singaporeans will be
concerned. We seek your support and understanding, as we choose
another leader," the 4G leaders said in a separate letter.
    Heng - who steered the central bank through the global
financial crisis - has doled out billions of dollars in stimulus
to help carry the country through the country's worst-ever
rececession caused by the pandemic. 
    But questions were also raised about his health after he
suffered a stroke and collapsed during a cabinet meeting in
2016.   
    "For such an announcement to be made this early, it seems
that the leadership is pretty confident that the economy is in a
far better shape today than a year ago and they are on top of
the situation," said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private
Banking. 
    "I always saw Heng as a bridge between the older and newer
group of leaders."

 (Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and Anshuman Daga; Editing by
Martin Petty)
 ((anshuman.daga@tr.com;))