Singapore premier names successor

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 71, had announced at the biennial convention of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) on Saturday that Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, 50, would take over the reins next November, a year ahead of the national election in 2025. Lee said, “Lawrence has told me he is ready…I have full confidence in Lawrence and his team and there is no reason to delay the political transition.”

The politics of Singapore is peculiar. The city-state follows the pattern of a market economy based on the Western model, but it also is a state where employment, and basic facilities like housing and education are ensured. It is in many ways a mix of Western market economy and controlled state. Lee’s father, Lee Kuan Yew, the architect of the successful Singapore model, created a meritocratic society without allowing those at the bottom to the vagaries of a market economy. Singapore is also a state where crime is at the lowest levels, compared to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, the other major cities in the region and this has been a main attraction for the Westerners and to the Singaporeans themselves. The political paradox of a state-guided society and a free market economy has shown to be successful. And not many are willing to question the apparent contradiction.

But this has paved the way for a high standard of living and an orderly society. Lee Hsien Loong has continued with the meritocratic model that his father has built and the Singapore miracle lives continues as well.

It was quite evident that when Lee Kuan Yew stepped down in 1990, that his son, Lee Hsien Loong, would take over. But he waited in the wings for 14 years and Goh Chok Tong served as prime minister. The Saturday announcement of the succession plan shows that the leadership of Singapore would not be confined to the family of Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee Hsien Loong has chosen Wong Lawrence who has worked closely with him. There has been no leadership contest in the PAP so far. It is a matter of speculation as to how the issue of future leaders would be settled in the future. Will Wong Lawrence announce his successor even as Lee Hsien Loong has announced his name when the time comes for such a decision?

It can be argued that the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP has served Singapore well. But what made it a success is of course the principles of honesty, of zero-tolerance to corruption, and of keeping poverty out though not everyone in Singapore is rich.

Most importantly, Singapore gave precedence to talent above everything else, and the doors of opportunity were not confined to local talent. Foreign talent was given a generous welcome, and the migrants integrated with the political culture of a single-party rule. Lee Hsien Loong had assured the party that the PAP would adhere to its core principles of a clean government that works for the welfare of the people. There is no place for power play, factionalism in PAP and Singapore politics.

It is to be seen how it would work out in the years ahead. The success of Singapore would depend on its political cleanliness and stability. Singapore provides an ideal model of study of a modern, economically free and politically restricted system. The cost benefit analysis of limited democracy and unlimited economic opportunity would show that Lee Kuan Yew’s vision of puritanical honesty in matters of governance is an unqualified success. There are problems in Singapore politics and its economy. But it seems to be responding to the challenges quite well so far. The passing of the baton from Lee Hsien Loong to Lawrence Wong is an instance of the Singapore political model.