Who Will Be The Subsequent Key Minister Of Singapore?

The reality is that we have small to no thought who will be the up coming key minister of Singapore.

In the course of the 2016 national day rally, PM Lee put throughout to Singaporeans that by the up coming election, he would be passing the baton to his successor.

The difficulty right here is that there is no obvious entrance-runner as to who would be the up coming PM.

Right before PM Lee turned PM in 2004, he was DPM for 14 lengthy decades. This means he had a extremely lengthy “warm up” period of time before he took the scorching seat.

In 1988, way before Goh Chok Tong turned key minister in 1991, he was currently in charge of the day-to-day operations of the authorities.

Currently, in 2016, there is no obvious entrance runner to the PM scorching seat.

To begin with, with his weighty obligations in authorities, Heng Swee Keat appeared to be the most very likely applicant. But when he was struck with stroke early this calendar year, it appeared that his prospects diminished dramatically.

Which brings us to Chan Chun Sing, who this creator thinks will most very likely grow to be PM. A single reasoning is that he typically signifies the authorities on televised community forums for occasions like the Nationwide Working day Rally, a process commonly still left for senior members of the cabinet. This calendar year, Chan also delivered the chinese edition of the PM’s Nationwide Working day Concept, in its place of the common Lim Swee Say.

Also, Chan is typically referred to as “Minister in the Key Minister’s Office environment,” significantly more than NTUC secretary-general, which is his full time day position. This creator thinks that the motive why he is typically referred to in this fashion is to get the citizens accustomed to listening to Chan Chun Sing and “Key Minister’s Office environment” in the similar sentence.

A single more critical factor of 1 remaining PM also is a solid practical experience with the defence portfolio. Chan beforehand served the the vast majority of his career as a experienced soldier and ended his stint as Main of Military, and prior to NTUC served also as second minister of defence. (Equally PM Lee and ESM Goh also had significantly practical experience with the defence portfolio, with PM Lee also an ex-career soldier and ESM Goh an ex-minister of defence.)

In addition, in PM Lee’s modern big overseas excursions (like to China or United states), Chan Chun Sing is an unmissable part of the PM’s ministerial entourage. Perhaps the authorities is subtly using these overseas excursions as a means to introduce to the world our up coming chief.

Chan is no slouch at elections possibly, with his Tanjong Pagar GRC crew getting the baton from Mr Lee Kuan Yew and winning with a resounding 77.seventy one% through the 2015 elections, larger than the national regular of 69.9%.

As Heng Swee Keat took ill early this calendar year, Chan also took more than the co-chairmanship of the Committee on the Foreseeable future Economic system – Singapore, a process only for the brightest in authorities.

It would seem like the authorities has extremely high hopes for Chan.

Some commentators have observed that when Chan was posted at the NTUC, it was found as a signal that the authorities had small religion in him. This creator disagrees with this sentiment. Fairly than found as a action down to Chan, this creator thinks that the authorities slotted Chan in the tough part of NTUC Sec-Gen to examination his political mettle and give him a more rounded and elaborate CV. With his helming of the NTUC, Chan is now a man who has Main Of Military, Labour Main, Minister MSF, Foreseeable future Economic system Committee Co-Chair, and PAP HQ Exco Chairman on his CV.

Does this seem like a résumé of a possible Key Minister? This creator thinks so.

Even though he does not have a luxury of a lengthy “runway” to power like PM Lee or ESM Goh, Chan does have the privilege of a extremely nicely-rounded and effective career, which places him in good slate to just take more than as PM through the up coming election.

On the opposite, Heng, who was education and learning minister and at present finance minister and has significantly lesser practical experience with the defence portfolio, would seem more slated to grow to be a DPM. (Believe Teo Chee Hean and Tharman’s ex-portfolios).

Ministers Lawrence Wong, Vivian Balakrishnan, and Tan Chuan Jin would not be talked over in this posting.