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SINGAPORE: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and will evolve into a protracted crisis, it might be better to further delay Singapore’s political succession, former Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar said.
“The way I see the current situation is: that we are in a very dangerous and very dangerous situation in our history as a country,” Professor Jayakumar, 81, said in an interview on October 30 before the publication of his book. entitled Governing – A Singapore Perspective.
“The bottom line is that I don’t think this is the time, really, to talk about succession.”
He wrote in the book that before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, he had asked Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about his decision to retire at age 70, and wondered if Mr. Lee had announced his intentions prematurely. .
Lee, 68, had previously said he would resign after the general elections, which were held in July this year. He had also said that GE2020 would be the last election he would lead as prime minister.
This changed when the pandemic occurred, and the Prime Minister said during and after the election campaign that he and the current generation of leaders will help Singapore overcome the crisis.
READ: GE2020: Prime Minister Lee calls for the support of all Singaporeans to overcome the COVID-19 crisis
“I’m glad that PM Lee has given himself some flexibility in the succession schedule. In my opinion, however capable 4G leaders are, we shouldn’t switch horses midway,” wrote Professor Jayakumar in a chapter. which looks at recent challenges for Singapore.
Top 4G leaders expected to take over include Vice Premier Heng Swee Keat, Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Education Lawrence Wong, Minister of Transport Ong Ye Kung, and the Minister of National Development, Desmond Lee.
Professor Jayakumar had this to say about his handling of the current pandemic: “4G leaders have shown a steady hand in very difficult circumstances. I and many other Singaporeans were encouraged by the calm and collected way in which they approached the many twists and turns and returns from the COVID-19 crisis “.
In the book, which was released on Friday (November 6), he raised the possibility that Lee could “revise his previous intention not to lead the next general election as prime minister.”
“What if Singapore is still in dire straits four or five years from now closer to the next general election?” Professor Jayakumar asked in the book, saying that views that PM Lee should “stay in command longer have intensified.”
“Of course, if ‘normalcy’ has been restored before the next GE, I think the public will support his desire to resign as prime minister. However, if the crisis persists, I think many Singaporeans will want him to rethink that aspect of his also on the schedule, and deliver it only after Singapore has turned the dangerous corner, “he said.
“I don’t know if he is willing or ready to do it,” Professor Jayakumar said in the interview.
HOW YOU JOINED THE POLICY
The former Cabinet minister and diplomat held the post of DPM from 2004 to 2009. He was elected to Parliament in 1980 and has held positions in various portfolios, notably as Minister of Law, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Coordinating Minister of National Security
He was appointed Chief Minister in 2009 and retired from politics in 2011. Before joining politics, he had been dean of the law school at the National University of Singapore.
In recounting how he was recruited by the Popular Action Party (PAP) in 1980, Professor Jayakumar said that it was not easy to get people to join politics now, with the added scrutiny of social media.
He said Toh Chin Chye, one of Singapore’s first generation leaders, “asked him the question” for the first time in 1974, but said he was not prepared.
He was approached for the second time in 1979, and asked this question: “Suppose you are at the top of our list, and if you say no, we have to go down the list and everyone else keeps saying no. Then we go to the bottom of the list and then would you be sorry if things went wrong in Singapore? “
That night he discussed it with his wife and they concluded that they couldn’t say no, Professor Jayakumar recalled: “And so I ended up running.”
READ: PM Lee Announces New Cabinet; 6 promoted occupants, 3 retirements
Years later, when he wanted to resign as Minister of Law, Chief Minister Emeritus Goh Chok Tong told him that he could not resign until he found a successor.
“So I looked around, who are my top students in law school? Davinder Singh and Shanmugam. So I asked the two of them separately to come to my office. And I posed the question and they gave me more or less the Same answer as I. They gave in, so I asked them the same question as them, and they both agreed, and that’s how they both ended up as Members of Parliament, “he said.
Mr. Davinder Singh, a prominent lawyer, was an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC from 1988 to 2006. Mr. K Shanmugam is the current Minister for Home Affairs and Law.
“I think I know some people have been approached and that their wives and families were reluctant. So I hope they will consider the same question they asked me and maybe change their mind,” added Professor Jayakumar.
OXLEY PATH
Professor Jayakumar also shared that he was approached by third parties to mediate the Lee family dispute in 2017, but was relieved not to have to perform this “Herculean task.”
Prime Minister Lee’s brothers, Dr. Lee Wei Ling and Mr. Lee Hsien Yang, had posted allegations on Facebook that their brother had abused his power in a dispute over their family home at 38 Oxley Road.
He was contacted by the media at the time for his views, but he declined to comment because he felt that broadcasting his views publicly would not have helped.
However, Professor Jayakumar discussed with ESM Goh and other ministers how he and Mr Goh, who were no longer in the cabinet, could have helped protect the government.
“Afterwards, Chok Tong made helpful comments on his Facebook. Chok Tong and I agreed that we should both keep in close contact and do everything we can, including mediation, as long as all parties agree,” he said in his book.
READ: Law Society seeks to disqualify Lee Suet Fern by Lee Kuan Yew’s will, defense requests that charges be dismissed
Professor Jayakumar said that he also wrote to Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, suggesting that it was important for him to address all Singaporeans directly and not just communicate through press releases from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“I was glad that he made a recorded video statement, which was broadcast on television on June 19, 2017. Clearly, he had already thought about this prior to my suggestion,” she wrote.
He added in the book that he was surprised how the prime minister “never showed bitterness or rancor towards his brothers.”
“Rather, all he expressed were feelings of pain and sadness that things had reached such a point,” he said.
