Lawrence Wong – former secretary and successor of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

Singapore Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who will succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – Photo: NIKKEI

According to the magazine NikkeiMr. Lawrence Wong was once a little known ordinary civil servant, then became a politician. But now, the man whose father is a sales manager and mother is a teacher is likely to become Singapore’s fourth prime minister.

The search for a successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appeared to have ended on the evening of April 14, when Mr. Lee announced Mr. Wong would lead the “fourth generation” or “4G” group of the People’s Action Party (PPP). PAP) ruling Singapore. On April 16, Mr. Lee said Mr. Wong would succeed him as the new leader of the lion island nation.

This marks the 49-year-old finance minister as Mr. Lee’s obvious successor. Experts say that Mr. Wong’s performance in the role of co-chair of Singapore’s COVID-19 task force over the past time, along with his easy-going image, sets him apart from other applications. other candidates as the PAP seeks to appeal to a younger group of voters.

“I am grateful for the trust and confidence of my colleagues who have chosen me to lead them,” Wong wrote on his Facebook account this week.

Unlike incumbent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – the son of the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (the first prime minister of the Republic of Singapore), Mr. Wong does not come from a political family. Mr. Wong once told the newspaper Straits Times (Singapore) that his family is just an ordinary family.

Mr. Wong will be the second prime minister with such a background after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who succeeded Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, who became Singapore’s second prime minister from 1990 to 2004.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (left) and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong – Photo: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook page

Mr. Wong studied abroad in the US on a government scholarship, and began his career as a civil servant in 1997. He later became the head of the Singapore Energy Market Authority (EMA), and also is Mr. Lee Hsien Loong’s personal secretary.

In 2011, Mr Wong was elected to Singapore’s Parliament for the first time and two weeks later was given his first political post – Secretary of State for Education and Defense. He was re-elected as a member of parliament in both the 2015 and 2020 elections, and gradually rose through the ranks and was assigned a number of ministerial positions (in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth; the Ministry of National Development). government; the Ministry of Education; and most recently, the Ministry of Finance).

However, Mr Wong has become much more prominent in 2020, after he was appointed co-chair of the Singapore Government’s (multi-ministerial) task force to respond to COVID-19. Television press conferences have given him more public exposure.

He is also known to be very emotional. In his address to the Singapore Parliament in March 2020, he choked up with tears as he expressed his gratitude to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meredith Weiss, a political science professor at New York University, said Mr Wong had built an image of “not only competent but also approachable and reasonable”.

“And I think Mr. Wong’s role in the COVID-19 task force, along with his past positions in education, finance and other roles, has been beneficial to him,” added Mrs. Meredith Weiss.

However, Professor Weiss said, convincing Singaporeans to continue to support the leadership of the PAP will not be easy, when voters want something new.

Associate professor Michael Barr at Australia’s Flinders University said it would be difficult for Mr. Wong to escape from Mr. Lee’s overwhelming shadow for a long time.

“I would expect Mr. Wong to be competent, at least in terms of governance. He might even be good at politics. We’ll just have to wait and see. But I don’t think there will be any bold initiatives. new,” said Michael Barr.