Who Says Singapore Politics Is Boring? A Top Departure Roils the Succession
The city-state’s transition gets upended. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong may stay for years more as he looks for a new heir.
Can’t quite say goodbye: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Photographer: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFPEarthquake analogies aren't often deployed in discussion of Singapore politics. The upending of leadership succession plans revealed Thursday when Heng Swee Keat bowed out as the country’s heir apparent rates as a decent seismic event.
Groomed to be Singapore’s next prime minister, Heng’s surprise withdrawal leaves room for incumbent Lee Hsien Loong to stay on well beyond his 70th birthday in February. That was what Lee hoped to avoid when he said he hoped to hand the reins to the so-called fourth generation of leaders. (The shorthand for this younger cohort of lawmakers is 4-G.)