S'pore deputy PM warns of succession problem<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Brig. Gen.
\nLee Hsien Loong has warned of a serious leadership succession
\nproblem by 2000 if not enough young people were fielded in the
\nnext two general elections.<\/p>\n
Lee, was quoted in the Straits Times daily yesterday as saying
\nthat five or six young people with ministerial caliber had to be
\nfielded in every general election so that four of five of them
\ncould make it as ministers.<\/p>\n
Lee, who is also first assistant secretary general of the
\nruling People's Action Party (PAP), made the point in a speech at
\nthe fifth anniversary dinner of the PAP's Women Wing last Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times quoted Lee as saying that despite the PAP's
\nbest efforts, it had not succeeded in finding the number of young
\npeople to stand in recent elections.<\/p>\n
Lee, 42, said that another worrying trend was the average age
\nof the cabinet which was creeping up, with the youngest member of
\nthe cabinet, Minister of State for Finance and Communications Teo
\nChee Hean, turning 40 soon.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that he was the youngest minister in 1984 and
\nhe was only 32.<\/p>\n
Lee said two years ago, it seemed that Singapore had a
\ncomplete second generation team but then both he and then Deputy
\nPrime Minister Ong Teng Cheong were struck down by cancer.<\/p>\n
Lee successfully underwent chemotherapy for his intermediate
\ngrade malignant lymphoma and is given an 80 percent chance of
\nremaining disease-free.<\/p>\n
Ong, who was diagnosed to be suffering from low grade
\nmalignant lymphoma, quit the cabinet and stood successfully for
\npresidential elections last August.<\/p>\n
Such a set back was like World Cup football team losing two
\nplayers, and \"people will quickly stop betting on you no matter
\nhow good the nine remaining players are,\" Lee said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in January that he had
\napproached several people with ministerial potential to stand for
\nelections as members of parliament but they had turned him down.<\/p>\n
Goh complained that rising affluence had made his task of
\nfinding talent for cabinet jobs very difficult and that potential
\ncandidates did not want to lose their privacy.<\/p>\n
Singapore raised the salaries of the premier, cabinet
\nministers, judges and top civil servants by 20 to 30 percent in
\nJanuary to get the best people in government.<\/p>",
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