Singaporean stage set for smooth power transfer
Singaporean stage set for smooth power transfer
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia
Five years ago, he appeared bald and physically weak before
the press talking of his battle with cancer that he contracted in
1992. His future was under a cloud.
Flashing his boyish smile, Lee Hsien Loong last week spoke to
a Chinese-language newspaper, touching on different subjects.
Given a clean bill of health long ago, the Deputy Prime
Minister was portrayed as a friendly regular chap who eats out
with his family in T-shirt and shorts.
"I can't say I'm a very experienced parent, but I have some
experience," said Lee, who has two children aged 22 and 14.
"It's not easy being a parent. Maybe it's not very easy being
a child. They have their own thinking and beliefs."
In recent months, he had been making the headlines, saying in
one: "I don't make promises I can't keep."
At a Harvard Club lunch, he promised to continue liberalizing.
"I have no doubt that our society must open up further," he said.
Lately, he admitted to being "the mystery caller" who logged
into government websites, vetted service counters and checked e-
mail replies to monitor the level of public service.
All this exposure was evidently to give Singaporeans a closer
glimpse of their next leader.
The son of Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is widely tipped to
take over from Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong some time this year,
Singapore's third in 39 years of independence.
At 52, Hsien Loong is 12 years younger than Malaysia's new
Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, with whom he will soon
work to strengthen bilateral ties.
Goh had said that if the economy recovered, he would be ready
to announce his stepping down after the first quarter of 2004.
Now that economic growth is forecast at a strong 5 percent to
5.5 percent, the time is near.
In a long newspaper interview last week, Goh spoke of his life
as a loving grandfather, teaching his granddaughter to swim. Some
regarded it as a message that the Prime Minister was ready to
pass over the baton but will remain in the Cabinet.
Inside the government, the transfer of power had been taking
place for some time. New younger leaders who will work with Hsien
Loong have slowly been moving into positions and will take over
from a number of older ministers who are likely to leave with Goh
under Singapore's unique "self-renewal" politics.
No challenges, no public protest. When the time comes --
usually after three or four five-year terms if things go well --
they leave to make way for others. It's the People's Action Party
way.
By the end of the year, Goh would have completed 14 years in
office, not bad for one who was merely considered "a seat warmer"
in 1990 when he succeeded Kuan Yew.
People had expected him to last maybe a term before vacating
the seat for Hsien Loong. But he had stayed and even thrived.
Goh gained wide public acceptance from Singaporeans who warmed
up to his mild, responsive style that was a far cry from his
authoritarian predecessor.
For this reason, public reaction towards the imminent transfer
of power is mixed.
On the unenthusiastic side are young professionals who are
fearful that under Hsien Loong, the city-state will revert back
to the "harsher", more controlled state of the Kuan Yew era. The
chances for political decontrol, they feel, will be less under
the new Prime Minister.
On the other side, however, are admirers who regard Hsien
Loong as a more capable, firmer leader, who is better able to
restore Singapore's economic strength and the people's pride and
confidence in their society.
But overshadowing this is a wider debate involving the Lee
family's role in Singapore after Hsien Loong takes over.
The controversy intensified after the ageing Lee, now 80 and
not in the pink of health, announced he would retain his role in
his son's Cabinet, which will also include Goh.
This will set up a near-unique model for the world, in which
two ex-prime ministers will serve in the successor's government.
"A three-in-one", a critic said cynically.
It caused an angry reaction from a section of the population
which peppered the Internet websites with suggestions that it was
time for Kuan Yew to retire from public life, and that he would
do better offering advice from behind the scenes as a common
citizen.
In addition, the public is uneasy with the extensive, powerful
roles played by other Lee family members in Singapore.
Kuan Yew is likely to remain the chairman of the Government
Investment Corporation, the state's overseas investment arm with
more than US$100 billion in assets.
Hsien Loong's wife, Ho Ching, will remain chief executive of
Singapore's other great investment anchor, Temasek Holdings,
owned by the Finance Ministry.
Under Temasek is a whole stable of companies that include
Singapore Airlines, DBS Bank, defense giant Singapore
Technologies and others that make up a sizeable part of the stock
market.
Another son, Hsien Yang, is central executive officer of the
huge Singapore Telecoms (SingTel), with its tentacle-like
shareholdings across Asia.
Explaining the phenomenon, Goh defended the appointments by
saying that the Lee family is extraordinarily capable in a
talent-short city.
For Hsien Loong, this has become a sensitive issue. Asked by
an interviewer six months ago whether his father was running
policies, he said it could not work -- if they had run it like a
family, capable ministers would not stand for it and quit.
"We are running the ship but he keeps an eye on it and if he
feels strongly about something, he'll surely let us know and
we'll consider very carefully his views and then decide what we
need to do."
Who will be Singapore's new deputy prime minister?
Some names have been speculated, including Defense Minister
Teo Chee Hean, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng and Minister
for Trade and Industry George Yeo.
Not a word from the leaders, though, which shows, according to
one commentator, how much the PAP views it as a party, and not a
public, matter.