Singapore minister steps aside as PM’s successor

A prominent Singapore minister stepped aside yesterday as the successor to the premier, in a shock move that upended the country’s carefully planned power transfer.

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat was in 2018 named to a key post in the ruling party that put him in pole position to take over when Singapore’s founding family hands over the premiership.

He was expected to replace Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of the late founding premier Lee Kuan Yew, who oversaw the country’s rapid economic development during three decades of sometimes authoritarian rule.

The power transfer is highly sensitive, as the country of 5.7 million’s transformation into one of the world’s wealthiest and most stable societies is linked in many people’s minds to the Lee family’s rule.

Heng was uncharismatic and, following his designation as Singapore’s leader in waiting, the long-ruling People’s Action Party saw its support fall in polls last year while the opposition made unprecedented gains.

Meanwhile, the prime minister started signalling he would stay on longer to see the city-state through the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to the prime minister, Heng said he was stepping aside as head of the PAP’s younger generation of leaders to give younger colleagues a chance to step up.

“The next prime minister should have a sufficiently long runway — to master the demands of leading our nation,” he wrote, noting that Lee now planned to stay on through the virus crisis.

“I would have too short a runway should I become the next prime minister.”

In his response, Lee, 69, thanked Heng for his “selfless decision to stand aside”.

Heng will also step down as finance minister at the next cabinet reshuffle, but will stay on in the cabinet holding other roles.