Singapore's Guitar-playing New PM Prefers 'Incremental' Change
Editor
15 May 2024 16:38 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Singapore - Singapore's Lawrence Wong, who becomes the wealthy city-state's first new prime minister in 20 years on Wednesday, May 15, took to Tiktok in the years before to engage with citizens, singing, playing guitar, and posting on issues such as mental health.
Behind that affable online personality is a man colleagues say is an able technocrat who embodies a generational shift in leadership yet exemplifies continuity in a nation ruled by his People's Action Party (PAP) since before independence in 1965.
Wong is "quite conservative" and "prefers incremental over radical change", said Donald Low, a former colleague who is now a public policy specialist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
"In that sense, Lawrence as PM probably wouldn't be all that different ... the emphasis would be on continuity, rather than radical change," said Low, adding that did not expect major changes with Wong at the helm.
Wong, 51, was most recently in the public eye for delivering clear explanations of the strict COVID-19 measures the nation of 5.9 million adopted since 2020 when he was co-chair of its pandemic management effort.
During a long career in the civil service before that, he worked from 2005 to 2008 as principal private secretary to outgoing prime minister Lee Hsien Loong before entering politics in 2011.
He chaired the central bank among other roles, and will retain the finance portfolio after becoming prime minister.
Most in the Asian financial hub appear, by a slim majority, to approve of Wong's ability to do the job.
He was rated competent by 53% of 1,025 respondents to a YouGov poll in April, though just 40% said he was trustworthy and 37% called him likable.
That compares with approval of just 38% among Americans for U.S. President Joe Biden in a Reuters poll.
