With Lee Hsien Loong stepping down as Prime Minister of Singapore after twenty years, his successor, Lawrence Wong, leader of the 4G team of the People’s Action Party (PAP) took his oath of office on Wednesday, promising to ensure a “tomorrow better than today.”
Emphasising a different leadership style with a priority towards rebuilding Singapore post-COVID-19, Wong’s selection into power by the PAP is symbolic as it marks an end to the dynastic governance starting from Lee Kuan Yew in 1959. Wong is thus, both the first-born and the fourth leader of independent Singapore since 1965.
Alongside rescaling the economy, Wong’s government also called for unity while simultaneously exercising caution against heightening protectionism and nationalism around the world, given the ongoing struggles between global powers that could potentially alter the world order as it is today.
“At the end of the day, what is important for us, small though we may be, it is [that] we are our own people, we make our own choices, and it really comes down to Singaporeans, deciding on the future of our own country. Not China, nor the West,” as Wong asserted in a conversation at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in 2023.
Furthermore, within the Party itself, Wong in a News Conference held in 2022 stressed the need to meet popular demands for increased diversity within the parliament while also acknowledging growing political competition, emphasising teamwork for greater results.
Nevertheless, given the PAP’s clean record, it is unlikely that even the new style of leadership would result in any drastic changes in Singapore, despite the significance of the transition and the careful thought put behind its implementation. As decreed in the Statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office in April 2022, the decision was to “ensure the continuity and stability of leadership that are the hallmarks of our system.”
Though Wong was not the first choice for future Prime Minister within the Party, the position initially given to Heng Swee Keat, the delay in handing over the position of the leader due to the pandemic, had Heng step down later proposing the position be granted to a younger leader.
Wong’s experience in navigating challenges such as his role in arresting the spread of COVID-19 in Singapore, and his tenure as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, all proved crucial in increasing his popularity to take on the leading role of Prime Minister.
Even so, economic struggles faced by Singaporeans such as expensive housing, widening income disparity, overpopulation from immigration and censorship are cited as the main reasons for the falling power of the PAP, making Wong’s governance more complicated and challenging.
Therefore, despite Singapore’s economic prosperity, the current challenges faced by its citizens lay out the priorities for the incoming Prime Minister to address, who has launched a Forward Singapore plan that grants citizens their own voice in planning the path of their country for their future generations.
