S'pore deputy PM warns of succession problem

S'pore deputy PM warns of succession problem

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Brig. Gen. Lee Hsien Loong has warned of a serious leadership succession problem by 2000 if not enough young people were fielded in the next two general elections.

Lee, was quoted in the Straits Times daily yesterday as saying that five or six young people with ministerial caliber had to be fielded in every general election so that four of five of them could make it as ministers.

Lee, who is also first assistant secretary general of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), made the point in a speech at the fifth anniversary dinner of the PAP's Women Wing last Sunday.

The Straits Times quoted Lee as saying that despite the PAP's best efforts, it had not succeeded in finding the number of young people to stand in recent elections.

Lee, 42, said that another worrying trend was the average age of the cabinet which was creeping up, with the youngest member of the cabinet, Minister of State for Finance and Communications Teo Chee Hean, turning 40 soon.

He pointed out that he was the youngest minister in 1984 and he was only 32.

Lee said two years ago, it seemed that Singapore had a complete second generation team but then both he and then Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong were struck down by cancer.

Lee successfully underwent chemotherapy for his intermediate grade malignant lymphoma and is given an 80 percent chance of remaining disease-free.

Ong, who was diagnosed to be suffering from low grade malignant lymphoma, quit the cabinet and stood successfully for presidential elections last August.

Such a set back was like World Cup football team losing two players, and "people will quickly stop betting on you no matter how good the nine remaining players are," Lee said.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in January that he had approached several people with ministerial potential to stand for elections as members of parliament but they had turned him down.

Goh complained that rising affluence had made his task of finding talent for cabinet jobs very difficult and that potential candidates did not want to lose their privacy.

Singapore raised the salaries of the premier, cabinet ministers, judges and top civil servants by 20 to 30 percent in January to get the best people in government.