When Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced the budget earlier this month, it was his first time doing so since a cabinet reshuffle last April put him in charge of the influential ministry, a portfolio held previously by deputy premier Heng Swee Keat, who had earlier that month stepped aside as prime minister-designate in a surprise announcement.
The appointment put 49-year-old Wong, already one of the most visible government leaders in his role as co-chairman of a multi-ministry task force in charge of Singapore’s Covid-19 response, among the frontrunners in a contest for which there is still no clear successor a decade since aging Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong first broached his plans to retire.
Apart from Wong, who on February 18 unveiled a spending plan designed to drum up revenue with a slew of tax hikes on higher income groups after two years of pandemic-era big-spending, local media and commentators see Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, 52, and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, 52, as the top contenders to succeed Lee.
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Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
