4G AND THE 2 SHANS
Singapore’s fourth prime minister faces challenges not unlike Goh Chok Tong’s.
More earnest than magnetic, better at balancing budgets than rousing a crowd, Heng Swee Keat is unlikely to be saddled with unrealistic expectations when he becomes Singapore’s fourth prime minister. Being underestimated can be a political asset. It was a step in Goh Chok Tong’s ladder from a wooden technocrat to a popular leader. When Goh became prime minister in 1990, people regarded him as a seat-warmer for Lee Hsien Loong, and Lee Kuan Yew’s second- or third-choice one at that. But rather than provoke scorn, this image evoked empathy, which Goh cultivated into affection and even respect.
In late 2018, Heng Swee Keat was anointed as Lee Hsien Loong’s eventual successor in similarly unpropitious circumstances. Once again, this wasn’t the incoming leader’s fault: it had more to do with the public’s doubts about the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) unconventional selection process, and rumours that his seniors may have preferred others to be in charge. Once again, a sceptical public may give the new leader the benefit of the doubt and warm to him, mindful that alternative scenarios could have been worse.
[Cont’d]
This is a chapter from Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited: Essays on Singapore Politics (Singapore: Ethos Books, 2020).
