Singapore reshuffles cabinet, no obvious successor for PM

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a cabinet reshuffle on April 24^th, where all but one of the 16 ministries saw changes. Prime Minister Lee said that this year’s reshuffle was more extensive than usual as he would like  to “stretch” the younger ministers by giving them additional responsibility, reported Channel News Asia. This is the most significant cabinet reshuffle since 2011, when the ruling People’s Action Party received the lowest vote share since independence.

This reshuffle is also focused on leadership succession. Before the reshuffle, Lee said it would be “a significant step in exposing and building the new teams of leaders” the Straits Times reports. This is  in order to ensure that there is a new team ready to assume leadership after the end of Prime Minister Lee’s term in January 2021. ‘Fourth Generation’ ministers now lead 10 out of 16 ministries.

Politically sensitive and strategically important ministries such as National Security, Economic and Social policies, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs remained with senior ministers. However, there is no obvious successor for Prime Minister Lee, the eldest son of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who is expected to stand down in the next few years.

Chan Chun Sing, Heng Swee Keat and Ong Ye Kung, who have been given the ministries of trade, finance and educatio, respectively, have been identified as potential successors. Deputy Prime Ministers Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam remain in their posts and do not seem to be in leadership contention. Reuters reports that according to Eugene Tan, an academic and former nominated member of parliament, the new positions appear to give Chan “a slight edge” in the race to replace Lee. However, Gillan Koh, Deputy Director of Research at the Institute of Public Policy Studies, said that whilst Chan and Heng’s roles are in more heavyweight ministries, “the game is still afoot”.